#small-business
Financial management strategies and tools for small business owners
Massachusetts's House passed the Secure Choice Savings Program 148-2 on July 8, 2026, mandating auto-enrollment Roth IRAs for employers with 25+ workers — 6% default contributions, $250-per-employee penalties, and a qualifying-plan exemption small businesses can use to opt out entirely.
Medical billing companies are agents under ASC 606: revenue is the 4–8% fee on collections, not the gross payments passing through. How to book pass-through cash as a liability, build a chart of accounts around fee income, and track clean-claim rate, denial rate, and days in A/R as leading indicators.
Initial claim denial rates reached 11.8% in 2026, and billing services paid 4–10% of collections absorb every denial in their own books. A practical guide to recognizing fee revenue when claims actually pay, tracking denial rework as a separate cost, segregating client trust funds, and building a chart of accounts for a contingent-fee business.
A Merchant Category Code (MCC) is a four-digit classification assigned to merchants by payment processors. It decides whether a business credit card's bonus categories trigger, shapes a merchant's interchange fees, and appears in Box 2 of IRS Form 1099-K — which returns to a $20,000 and 200-transaction threshold for tax years 2025 and beyond.
Minnesota's HB 4188 redefines 'arranging' small-dollar and short-term consumer loans to include marketing, lead generation, underwriting, and collections. Starting August 1, 2026, lead generators, affiliates, and referral partners handling loans of $1,300 or less may need a Regulated Loan license — Connecticut has already fined an unlicensed mortgage lead generator $50,000 under a similar regime.
Missouri's HB 974, signed July 2, 2025 and effective January 1, 2026, applies the NAIC Insurance Data Security Model Law to nearly every insurance licensee in the state — requiring a written security program, annual risk assessments, an incident response plan, vendor oversight, and breach notification to regulators within four business days.
The NFIP's authority to issue and renew flood insurance expires September 30, 2026 unless Congress reauthorizes it. During a lapse, existing policies stay in force and claims are still paid, but no new or renewal policies can be written — a risk for small businesses closing on property, refinancing, or renewing coverage in flood zones. Here's what happens in a lapse and how to prepare.
On June 30, 2026, the NCUA issued an interim final rule declaring that federal law preempts state laws — like Illinois's Interchange Fee Prohibition Act — that bar interchange fees on the sales-tax and tip portions of card transactions for federal credit unions. Here is what the rule says, why the litigation is far from over, and how small businesses should track card-processing costs while the rules stay unsettled.
New Hampshire's HB 1433, signed July 9, 2026, creates a Child Day Care Creation Tax Credit worth 50% of qualifying costs against the Business Profits Tax and Business Enterprise Tax, capped at $5 million statewide with a four-year carryforward. Here is who qualifies under the 12-slot rule, how it differs from HB 1634, and what to track before 2028 filings.
New Jersey's natural organic reduction law takes effect July 1, 2026, making it the 14th state to legalize human composting. The 45-day reduction cycle forces deferred-revenue treatment under ASC 606, unclaimed soil becomes a tracked inventory line, and NOR vessels need their own depreciation class — here's how funeral homes should set up the books.
Newsletter CPC ad networks like beehiiv verify clicks roughly 96 hours after send and pay out on the 20th of the following month — three different dates that create a real accrual-accounting gap most solo publishers book incorrectly.
The June 2026 NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose 2.1 points to 97.4 — a four-month high — while 21% of owners named inflation their top problem and 38% raised prices, the most since January 2023. Here's how to turn those numbers into a data-driven pricing decision.
