The Workers' Comp Ghost Policy: A COI With No Employees to Cover
A workers' comp ghost policy covers nobody — it buys the COI a general contractor demands for $750–$1,200 a year. Who qualifies, and what the audit checks.
#independent-contractor
Independent Contractor
Contractor payments, 1099 tracking, and compliance
Bookkeeping for Martial Arts Schools: Why Testing Fees, Merchandise, and Autopay Need Separate Revenue Lines
Split dojo income into six revenue lines — dues, testing, pro shop, privates, camps, parties — and carry prepaid tuition as deferred revenue, not income.
The Owner-Operator Trucker's 2026 Per Diem Deduction: Why You Deduct 80%, Not 50%
Owner-operators deduct 80% of the $80 IRS transportation per diem rate — $64 a day — not 50%. Claim only overnight days and prorate partial days at 75%.
Form SS-8: Asking the IRS to Settle Employee vs. Contractor Status — When It Helps and What It Risks
Form SS-8 lets a business or a worker ask the IRS to rule on employee vs. contractor status under the common-law control test. The free determination takes at least six months, binds the IRS, and carries no appeal rights — here's when to file and what each side risks.
The New AI Side Hustle: Bookkeeping and Quarterly Taxes for RLHF and Data-Labeling Gig Income
AI data-labeling and RLHF gig income arrives with nothing withheld, so annotators owe 15.3 percent self-employment tax plus income tax on every payout and must pay quarterly estimates by the 2026 deadlines. This guide covers the 1099-NEC and 1099-K thresholds, the 90/100/110 percent safe-harbor rules, Schedule C deductions most annotators skip, and a 20-minute-a-month bookkeeping system for multi-platform payouts.
How to Run a Bar Crawl Company: Ticket Revenue, Venue Splits, Guide Pay, and Permits
A bar crawl company sells admission, not alcohol, so it usually needs no liquor license, but a $25 ticket can lose over $3.60 to platform and processing fees before a single guide is paid. Here is how to structure written per-head venue deals, book pass-through covers as liabilities instead of revenue, defer advance ticket sales until the event, clear city pub-crawl permits, carry $1–2 million in liability coverage, and decide whether guides are W-2 employees or 1099 contractors.
New-Hire Reporting: The 20-Day Rule Every First-Time and Multistate Employer Must Know
Every U.S. employer must report each new hire and qualifying rehire to a State Directory of New Hires within 20 days of the first day of paid work, and electronic filers may batch reports 12 to 16 days apart. This guide covers the six required data points, the one-state designation that lets multistate employers file to a single directory, California and New York independent-contractor reporting rules, and the federal penalty cap of $25 per unreported employee rising to $500 for collusion.
California's SB 517: The New Subcontractor-Disclosure Line Every Home-Improvement Contract Needs in 2026
Effective January 1, 2026, California SB 517 amends Business and Professions Code Section 7159 to require every home improvement contract to include a yes/no subcontractor checkbox, a statutory disclaimer when the answer is yes, and that same disclaimer on every change order — with the prime contractor still responsible for completing the job.
Collecting Certificates of Insurance From Every Subcontractor: What a COI Must Show and the Audit Bill for Skipping It
A certificate of insurance you cannot produce on audit day turns subcontractor payments into your own payroll, billed at your trade rates. Here are the seven things every subcontractor COI must show, the five triggers for demanding a new one, and why certificate holder status is not the same as being an additional insured.
Who Owns the Work Your Contractor Created? A Startup Founder's Guide to IP Assignment
Paying a contractor does not transfer intellectual property. Under U.S. law the creator owns the copyright and the inventor owns the patent rights unless a signed writing says otherwise, and "work made for hire" language covers only nine narrow statutory categories that exclude custom software. This guide covers the seven clauses a contractor IP assignment needs, why "hereby assigns" beats "agrees to assign," and what investors check in diligence.
Umpire and Referee Taxes: 1099-NEC, Schedule C, and the Deductions Officials Miss
Sports officials report game fees on Schedule C, owe self-employment tax once net earnings reach $400, and receive a 1099-NEC only above the new $2,000 threshold for 2026 — with 2026 mileage logs split at June 30 between the 72.5-cent and 76-cent rates.
Your Sold-Out Ghost Tour Might Net Less Than Half the Ticket Revenue
Ghost tour and walking-tour operators often keep less than half of ticket revenue after OTA commissions of 20–30%, guide pay, and year-round insurance. Here is how to book per-seat contribution margin by channel, treat advance sales as deferred revenue, and budget October to fund February.