#small-business
Financial management strategies and tools for small business owners
For tax years starting in 2026, OBBBA makes the 20% qualified business income deduction permanent, widens the married-joint phase-in range to $394,600–$544,600, and adds a $400 minimum for taxpayers with more than $1,000 of QBI — so a $1,500 profit yields $400 instead of $300.
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.
The 10% Section 122 surcharge expired July 24, 2026 after 150 days and was replaced by 10-12.5% Section 301 duties; CBP's CAPE portal has already paid $23.7 billion of an estimated $166 billion in IEEPA refunds — learn how to re-model landed cost per SKU, track entry-level recoveries, and avoid booking refunds as income too early.
40% of small business owners plan to retire within 10 years but 70% have no formal succession plan and only 8% are fully prepared; Revenued finds 59% of successors assume a plan exists while only 35% of owners have one — this guide explains the 24-point gap, valuation methods, clean-book QofE prep, and a 12-month exit plan to make your business lending-ready.
USDA has not issued 2025 Organic Certification Cost Share reimbursements as of August 2026 despite July authorization in the One Big Beautiful Bill — the program covers 75% up to $750 per scope for application, inspection, and equivalency fees while certification costs now exceed $2,800. This guide explains the expense-vs-income tax treatment, receivable tracking by scope, and the filing checklist to meet the December 31, 2026 deadline while FSA prioritizes $13 million in Bridge Assistance payments amid shutdown and staffing cuts.
IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-19 sets 2026 HSA limits at $4,400 self-only and $8,750 family, plus $1,000 catch-up for 55+.
FAA Part 107 certification costs $175 for the knowledge test plus $5 per drone for registration, drone liability insurance runs $500 to $1,500 per year for $1 million coverage while hull runs 8 to 12 percent of aircraft value, and 2026 restores 100 percent bonus depreciation with a $2.56 million Section 179 limit — this guide shows how to expense certification, book prepaid insurance, depreciate a short-lived fleet, price per deliverable, and handle sales tax before your next flight.
A 10-bike e-bike rental fleet costs $15,000–$30,000 to launch, but each swappable battery lasts only 500–1,000 cycles and costs $400–$900 to replace — often within a year at rental utilization. This guide shows how to capitalize bikes and packs separately, depreciate under 2026 Section 179 and restored 100% bonus depreciation, reconcile net app payouts to gross revenue, and track utilization and revenue per bike per day before the next battery wave hits.
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 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.
Starting February 19, 2026, Visa+ stops working for PayPal and Venmo transfers and is replaced by direct phone-number payments rolling out November 2025. With the 1099-K threshold falling to $600 in 2026, freelancers must tag inter-app transfers correctly, reconcile gross versus net per platform, and separate business from personal flows to avoid double-counting income.
Airbnb reports the full gross booking on the owner's 1099-K and your co-host share again on yours — so $80,000 in real bookings can appear as $96,000 to the IRS. This guide explains the 2026 OBBBA changes ($20,000 and 200 transactions for 1099-K, $2,000 for 1099-NEC), which form you should receive, and the chart-of-accounts method to reconcile gross vs. net without overreporting income.
