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Small Business

Financial management strategies and tools for small business owners

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July 10, 20269 min read

Self-Storage Cost Segregation and 100% Bonus Depreciation: A 2026 Owner's Guide

Cost segregation studies routinely move 16–24% of a self-storage facility's purchase price off the 39-year schedule into 5- and 15-year property. With 100% bonus depreciation permanently restored by the OBBBA for property placed in service after January 19, 2025, a $1 million acquisition can produce roughly $200,000 in first-year deductions — about $74,000 in tax savings at a 37% rate. Here's how the studies work, what they cost, and the recapture math to run before selling.

Mike Thrift

cost-segregationbonus-depreciationdepreciation

July 10, 20266 min read

The 2026 SIMPLE IRA Two-Tier Contribution Limits: $17,000 vs. $18,100 Explained

For 2026 the standard SIMPLE IRA elective deferral limit is $17,000, but employers with 25 or fewer employees (or 26-100 that raise their match) get an enhanced $18,100 limit under SECURE 2.0 — and a rounding quirk means the enhanced-tier catch-up contribution is actually lower than the standard one.

Mike Thrift

simple-iraretirement-planspayroll

July 10, 202610 min read

Small Business Grant Scams: How to Spot a Fake Offer Before You Pay

No legitimate grant ever requires an upfront fee — the FTC reports nearly 30% of 2026 scam victims were first contacted on social media with losses topping $2.1 billion, and fake grant offers follow a predictable four-step script from unsolicited contact to escalating "release fees."

Mike Thrift

grantsfraud-preventionsmall-business

July 10, 20267 min read

Social Security Wage Base 2026: Budgeting for the Jump to $184,500

The 2026 Social Security wage base rises to $184,500 from $176,100, pushing the maximum employer-side Social Security tax per employee up $520.80 to $11,439, and resets to zero separately for every employer a highly paid employee joins mid-year.

Mike Thrift

payrolltaxtax-planning

July 10, 20268 min read

State Sales Tax Now Reaches Consulting, IT, and SaaS: A 2026 Guide for Service Businesses

Washington, Maryland, and Maine now tax IT support, consulting, and technology services as retail sales, and California's SB 122 makes SaaS taxable starting January 2027 — service businesses should check economic nexus and taxability state by state before the next filing deadline.

Mike Thrift

taxtax-compliancesmall-business

July 10, 20269 min read

Stripe Billing vs. Chargebee vs. Recurly: Choosing Your SaaS Subscription Platform

Stripe Billing suits developer-led SaaS teams under roughly $500K MRR, Chargebee fits non-engineers managing complex pricing above a monthly platform fee, and Recurly's ML-optimized dunning recovers 40-70% of failed payments versus about 15% with no intervention.

Mike Thrift

paymentsfintechstartup

July 10, 20268 min read

The Subchapter V Bankruptcy Debt Limit in 2026: What Small Businesses Need to Know

In 2026 the Subchapter V small-business bankruptcy debt limit is $3,424,000, down from the pandemic-era $7.5 million ceiling that expired in June 2024 — a bill in Congress could restore the higher threshold for businesses currently locked out of the cheaper reorganization track.

Mike Thrift

debt-managementsmall-businesslegal

July 10, 20269 min read

Toast vs. Square vs. Clover: Choosing the Right POS System for Your Restaurant or Retail Business in 2026

Toast charges roughly 2.99% + 15¢ per transaction, Clover about 2.3% + 10¢, and Square 2.4–2.6% + 15¢ — a side-by-side breakdown of POS pricing, hardware costs, and contract terms to help restaurant and retail owners pick the right system in 2026.

Mike Thrift

point-of-salepaymentssmall-business

July 10, 20268 min read

The USMCA Joint Review Started July 2026: A Small Business Guide to Tariff Risk

The USMCA's mandatory six-year joint review began July 1, 2026, giving the US, Mexico, and Canada until 2036 to decide whether to extend the agreement—small businesses claiming preferential tariff treatment should audit certificates of origin now, since a paperwork gap can be treated as customs fraud during heightened review-period scrutiny.

Mike Thrift

tariffscustomssmall-business

July 10, 20269 min read

Visa and Mastercard Just Tightened Chargeback Monitoring Again: What the 2026 VAMP Threshold Cut Means for Merchants

Visa lowered its VAMP excessive-merchant threshold from 2.2% to 1.5% on April 1, 2026, with fines of $8 per flagged transaction, and Mastercard's Excessive Chargeback Program still triggers at 100+ monthly chargebacks — here's how the ratio math catches small merchants off guard and how to bring it back under the line.

Mike Thrift

chargebackspaymentsfraud-prevention

July 10, 20268 min read

The White House's 2026 Fintech Executive Order: A Small Business Banking Guide

A May 19, 2026 executive order pushes banks and fintechs closer together, reviving the layered-partnership risks the 2024 Synapse collapse exposed — here's what small business owners should watch and do before the 90- and 180-day regulatory deadlines hit in August and November 2026.

Mike Thrift

fintechbankingsmall-business

July 9, 20269 min read

2026 State Minimum Wage Increases: A Small Employer's Budgeting Guide

Nineteen states raised their minimum wage on January 1, 2026, and Florida steps up to $15.00 on September 30. This guide covers which rate applies when federal, state, and local minimums overlap, how tipped-wage and exempt-threshold rules shift alongside the headline number, and how to budget for the pay-compression ripple effect across your wage ladder.

Mike Thrift

payrollsmall-businesscompliance

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