#small-business
Financial management strategies and tools for small business owners
For wages paid on or after January 1, 2026, employers must report qualified tips in W-2 Box 12 Code TP and the Treasury Tipped Occupation Code in Box 14b, or tipped employees lose a deduction of up to $25,000 under section 224.
Under GAAP's ASC 330, inventory must be carried at the lower of cost or net realizable value. This guide shows small businesses how to calculate NRV, book the write-down, document it for the IRS, and avoid the book-tax timing trap.
For fiscal 2026 the IRS high-low per diem rates are $319/day (high-cost) and $225/day (standard), unchanged from the prior year. Per diem stays tax-free only under an accountable plan's three rules — business connection, substantiation within 60 days, and return of excess within 120 days.
AI meeting notetakers can trigger all-party consent rules in roughly a dozen states and create voiceprints regulated by Illinois BIPA, which carries $1,000 per negligent and $5,000 per intentional violation with no proof of harm required. This guide maps the consent rules, the three things BIPA requires before a voiceprint exists, and a six-step settings, consent, and retention playbook for teams under 50 people.
An Amazon FBA reserve is money Amazon owes you, not a fee — book the withheld settlement as a current asset (Amazon Reserved Balances), not a P&L expense, so revenue is not understated and bank reconciliation ties.
Seventeen states run back-to-school sales tax holidays in summer 2026, from Florida's 32-day window to Iowa's Friday-Saturday weekend, each with its own price caps — $75 clothing in Ohio, $300 in Connecticut, $40 on Maryland backpacks. Participation is mandatory for most registered retailers, and destination sourcing means online sellers with nexus must honor the holiday of the delivery state.
Business Overhead Expense (BOE) disability insurance reimburses a business for fixed costs — rent, staff payroll, utilities, leases — when the owner can't work due to illness or injury. It excludes the owner's own salary, pays 12 to 24 months after a 30-, 60-, or 90-day elimination period, and typically costs 1% to 3% of the monthly benefit per year. Premiums are deductible; benefits are taxable to the business.
A contract-level bookkeeping system for cleaning and janitorial businesses—job costing by contract, a payroll-to-revenue dial that says when you can hire, and a 10-minute supply inventory method—so you can bid with real numbers and spot losing contracts before they drag the quarter.
How to book a cold plunge and sauna recovery studio from presale to full capacity — founding-member cash held as deferred revenue under ASC 606, a $110,000–$250,000 build-out split between Section 179 equipment and 15-year qualified improvement property, and the three utilization KPIs (plunge occupancy, revenue per plunge-hour, churn by wait-time cohort) that show whether another chiller pays.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act covers consumer debt collected by third parties, so it does not govern a business chasing its own overdue B2B invoices — contract law, UCC Article 2, and state unfair-practice statutes do. This guide explains the two FDCPA tests most commercial receivables fail, and gives a five-step recovery sequence from contract clauses and a follow-up cadence through demand letter, small claims or a 15–40% contingency agency, and judgment enforcement.
The federal FLSA salary threshold for the white-collar exemptions is still $684 a week ($35,568 a year) in 2026 after the 2024 DOL rule was vacated and rescinded, but six states set higher floors - Washington $1,541.70/week, California $1,352.00, New York $1,275.00 in the NYC metro and $1,199.10 elsewhere, Colorado $1,057.69, Alaska $938.40, and Maine $871.16. The threshold that applies is the one for the state where the work is performed, and a failed classification exposes two years of unpaid overtime (three if willful) plus liquidated damages that double the recovery.
The IRS normally has three years from the filing date to assess additional tax under IRC 6501(a), six years if you omit more than 25% of gross income, and unlimited time if you never filed or filed fraudulently. Parallel clocks run alongside it - 10 years to collect, 3 years to claim a refund, 4 years for employment tax records, and property basis until disposition plus 3 - which is why most CPAs tell small businesses to default financial records to six years.
