#small-business
Financial management strategies and tools for small business owners
Effective July 1, 2026, Washington raised the B&O tax filing threshold from $125,000 to $250,000 in annual gross income and increased the small business credit caps to $375/month for service businesses and $125/month for nonservice businesses — here's who can stop filing, who still owes nothing, and what obligations remain.
An AR aging report sorts unpaid invoices into current, 1–30, 31–60, 61–90, and 90+ day buckets so you can spot cash flow risk early. Healthy businesses keep 70–80% of receivables in the first two buckets; collection odds drop below 70% past 90 days. Here's how to read the buckets, run a weekly collections workflow, and turn the report into a cash forecast.
A term loan charges interest on the full lump sum from day one; a line of credit only charges for what you draw. This guide compares 2026 rates (bank term loans 6.8%–11%, SBA 7(a) 9.75%–13.25%, bank lines 8%–14%), qualification bars, and a three-question framework for choosing the right product.
SB 180, signed July 13, 2026, extends the California Competes Tax Credit through fiscal year 2032-33. Small businesses can apply in three annual windows for a share of $180 million+ in credits — no minimum size, no fee — but awards come with binding job and investment milestones that demand clean books.
A charter fishing operation grossing $126,000 a year can still not know what a single trip costs to run. This guide covers per-trip costing for fuel, bait, and mate pay ($100–$150 day rates plus 15–20% tips), 1099 vs. W-2 crew classification, vessel depreciation with Section 179's more-than-50% business-use test, why booking deposits are liabilities until the trip runs, off-season cash reserves, and the IRS's three-of-five-years profit test for hobby-loss scrutiny.
A co-packer's quoted per-unit price can understate real landed cost by 36% once fixed per-run charges, setup fees, and MOQ economics are counted. How food and beverage brands should classify contract-manufacturing costs as COGS, handle turn-key vs. tolling arrangements, and avoid the 5–10 point gross-margin overstatement that misclassification causes.
Colorado's HB26-1223, signed June 4, 2026, lets qualifying food and drink retailers deduct up to $14,000 of monthly net taxable sales from state sales tax in July, August, November, and December of 2027 and 2028 — worth up to about $3,248 — plus a prepared-food utility exemption or 0.5% credit starting July 1, 2026. Here's who qualifies and how to record it.
Mixing personal and business money in one account can void your LLC's liability shield, get legitimate deductions disallowed for lack of substantiation under IRC Section 162, and turn a routine audit into a full transaction pull. Here's what commingling looks like, why courts and the IRS punish it, and a five-step cleanup plan.
Business credit card cash back is a rebate, not taxable income — unless it's a no-spend sign-up or referral bonus. This guide shows the two ways to book rewards (contra-expense vs. other income), with journal entries, the earned-vs-redeemed timing choice, and the IRS logic behind each.
How sign shops use job costing to price channel letters, vinyl, and wraps profitably — tracking direct materials, direct labor, labor burden (roughly 15%+ over base pay), and an hourly overhead rate, with a pricing formula and common profit leaks like unbilled design revisions and install overruns.
DOL Opinion Letter FLSA2026-2 (January 5, 2026) holds that a formula-driven safety and attendance bonus of up to $9.50/hour is nondiscretionary and must be included in the FLSA regular rate — turning a $12/hour base into a $21.50 regular rate and adding $107.50 of overtime pay in DOL's own 50-hour example. Here is the three-part test, which common bonus types fail it, and how to fix the payroll math.
Cover Genius's $100M raise at a $1.9B valuation signals how fast embedded insurance is reaching small merchants. Most Shopify-style protection apps make you an agent under ASC 606, so only the 10–30% commission is your revenue — here's how to verify licensing and book the fees correctly.
