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Payroll
Payroll management, processing, and compliance for businesses of all sizes
Employee Cash Advances: Record Repayment Without Creating Hidden Compensation
Classify an employee advance as a wage payment, business-expense advance, or personal loan before the cash leaves the bank, route it through one Assets:Employee-Advances clearing account, and reconcile the open balance every pay run so it never becomes hidden compensation.
EU Platform Work Directive Deadline: What US Businesses Hiring European Freelancers Must Do Before December 2, 2026
The EU Platform Work Directive (2024/2831) must become national law in all member states by December 2, 2026, creating a rebuttable presumption that platform workers are employees. US businesses hiring EU-based freelancers through digital platforms face reclassification risk, algorithmic transparency duties, and new data-processing bans — this guide covers the six pillars, a 10-month compliance playbook, and the bookkeeping changes to make now.
The Modern Worker Empowerment Act Explained: Would H.R. 1319 Bring Back the Common-Law Test for Independent Contractors?
H.R. 1319, the Modern Worker Empowerment Act, would replace the DOL's six-factor economic reality test with a single common-law standard for worker classification under both the FLSA and NLRA, centered on two prongs — control over the work and entrepreneurial opportunity — while explicitly excluding safety rules and project deadlines as evidence of control. Here's how it compares to the ABC test, what it wouldn't change, and the contractor bookkeeping checklist to run while the bill is pending.
Your $35,568 Exempt Employee Could Still Owe Overtime — If They Work in the Wrong State
Federal overtime stays at $684 per week after the 2024 rule was vacated, but Washington ($80,168), California ($70,304), Colorado ($57,784), New York ($62,400–$66,300), and Maine ($45,300) now exceed it for 2026 — learn the three-test rule, where state law controls, and a six-step payroll audit to avoid back-pay and liquidated damages.
Hiring Farm Workers in 2026: Form 943, the $150 and $2,500 Tests, and Why Farm Payroll Files Once a Year
Farm payroll doesn't use Form 941. Learn how Form 943's annual filing, the $150 per-worker and $2,500 aggregate cash-wage tests for FICA and withholding, and the separate $20,000 FUTA threshold work in 2026, plus the bookkeeping split that keeps farm and nonfarm liabilities off the wrong return.
When Your Subsidy Check Follows Attendance, Not Enrollment: A Daycare Owner's Guide to the 2026 CCDF Flexibility Rule
HHS's May 12, 2026 final rule restoring CCDF flexibility rescinded four 2024 mandates — the 7% co-payment cap, grants-or-contracts set-aside, prospective payment, and enrollment-based billing — effective July 13, 2026. Learn what attendance-based reimbursement means for daycare cash flow, how the 85% and five-day absence thresholds work, and which bookkeeping habits keep subsidy revenue predictable.
Florida's SB 606 Operations Charge Rule: What Restaurants Must Disclose on Menus, Bills, and Receipts Starting July 1, 2026
Florida SB 606 takes effect July 1, 2026 and redefines restaurant fee disclosure: every mandatory operations charge — service charges, auto-gratuities, delivery fees, and card surcharges — must be shown on menus, contracts, and ordering apps in compliant font, on the face of the bill, and as three separate receipt lines for tip, operations charge, and sales tax. Learn what counts as an operations charge, where to disclose, and how to book each line correctly.
QuickBooks Will Auto-File Every Payroll Tax on July 1, 2026: What You Lose (and Gain) When Manual Filing Disappears
Starting July 1, 2026, QuickBooks Workforce and QuickBooks Online Payroll will automatically pay and file every payroll tax you have set up — 941, 940, state withholding and SUTA — with no option to turn off automated taxes. Learn which deposits and forms are affected, how bank-debit timing hits cash flow, why the one-time July 1 FUTA catch-up matters, and the double-entry bookkeeping that keeps liabilities matched to debits and filed returns.
2026 HSA Limits Rise to $4,400 and $8,750: The Small Business Owner's Pre-Open-Enrollment Playbook
IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-19 raises 2026 HSA limits to $4,400 self-only and $8,750 family, with a $1,000 catch-up at 55+, and lifts HDHP minimum deductibles to $1,700/$3,400. This guide explains how small businesses must update cafeteria plans, payroll caps, and bookkeeping before open enrollment to capture the triple tax benefit and avoid overcontribution and comparability penalties.
Illinois Just Made Cocktails-to-Go Permanent: SB 618 Sealed-Container Rules and Bookkeeping for Bars and Restaurants
Illinois SB 618 makes cocktails-to-go permanent July 1, 2026, requiring tamper-evident sealed containers, four-element labeling, a seven-day fill clock, employee-only delivery, and age verification, with ABV-based gallonage tax and separate POS bookkeeping to keep the channel profitable and audit-ready.
New Jersey's ABC Test Is Now Final: What Every Business Hiring Contractors Needs to Do Before October 1
New Jersey adopted final ABC test regulations on May 5, 2026, effective October 1 — applying the same three-prong test across unemployment, wage and hour, and wage payment laws. Learn how remote work and app-based control change the analysis, the per-worker penalties, and a six-step audit to complete before the deadline.
The DOL Wants to Scrap Its Six-Factor Contractor Test: What the 2026 Two-Factor Proposal Means for Your Business
The DOL's February 26, 2026 proposal (RIN 1235-AA46) would replace the 2024 six-factor contractor test with a two-factor economic-reality analysis weighing control and opportunity for profit or loss. Here is what changes, why the 2024 rule is in enforcement limbo, and what to document in your books now while the rescission is pending.