#entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship
Financial guidance and accounting tips for entrepreneurs and startups
Why Your Homeowners Policy Won't Cover Your Home-Based Business (and What to Buy Instead)
A standard homeowners policy caps business-property coverage around $1,500 and excludes business liability entirely, which is why most home-based businesses need a Business Owner's Policy (avg. $35/month) or a professional liability add-on.
The FTC Abandoned Its Noncompete Ban — What Small Employers Need to Know in 2026
The FTC formally withdrew its nationwide noncompete ban from the Code of Federal Regulations on February 12, 2026, and pivoted to case-by-case Section 5 enforcement — its April 2026 order against Rollins, Inc. covered more than 18,000 employees — while state law, from outright bans in California and Minnesota to salary thresholds in Washington and Colorado, remains the primary source of risk for small employers.
Virtual Assistant Agency Bookkeeping: Contractor Classification, Retainers, and Getting Paid for Every Hour
VA agencies face IRS misclassification risk on contractor VAs, must recognize standing-ready vs activity-based retainers under ASC 606, and typically lose revenue to unbilled client hours without real-time time tracking.
Cash Balance Plans: How Business Owners Save $200,000+ a Year Beyond a 401(k)
A cash balance plan is an IRS-qualified defined benefit plan that lets business owners 45 and older stack $75,000 to $290,000 in additional pre-tax retirement contributions on top of a 401(k), with the trade-off being a required multi-year funding commitment and $2,000-$4,000 in annual actuarial administration costs.
Employee Ownership Trusts: The Succession Planning Alternative Between Selling to a Stranger and Doing Nothing
An Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) lets a business owner sell to a permanent employee-benefit trust instead of a competitor or private equity firm, costing roughly $30,000-$100,000 to set up versus $150,000+ for an ESOP, though the U.S. still offers no federal tax incentive for EOT sales while Canada made its C$10 million capital gains exemption permanent in June 2026.
The H-1B $100,000 Fee: A 2026 Cost Guide for Small Employers
Since September 2025, new H-1B petitions requiring consular processing carry a $100,000 supplemental fee on top of standard filing costs, pushing all-in sponsorship for small employers from roughly $5,500–$10,500 to $105,000–$110,000 per hire in 2026.
Section 1202 QSBS Exclusion: A Founder's Guide to $15 Million in Tax-Free Gains
Section 1202 lets founders, early employees, and angel investors exclude up to $15 million of capital gains from federal tax. This guide covers the OBBBA changes, the five eligibility gates, the new 3/4/5-year tiered holding period, Section 1045 rollovers, and stacking strategies that multiply the per-issuer cap across family members and non-grantor trusts.
Section 1235 Capital Gains Treatment for Patent Sales: How Inventors Convert Royalty Income Into Long-Term Capital Gain
Section 1235 lets individual inventors and qualifying early investors treat a patent sale as long-term capital gain — even without a one-year holding period — if they transfer all substantial rights. This guide explains who qualifies as a holder, why the rule survived the TCJA carve-out for self-created intangibles, and how to draft the transfer so the IRS sees a sale rather than a royalty license.
Bookkeeping for Food Truck Owners: Cash Sales, COGS, and Sales Tax
A step-by-step bookkeeping system for food trucks — separating business money, building a truck-specific chart of accounts, running a daily cash close, tracking food cost at 25–30% of revenue, and treating collected sales tax as a liability rather than income.
Quality of Earnings Reports: How Sellers Protect Their Price in a Business Sale
A Quality of Earnings report normalizes a company's earnings, reconciles them to cash, and tests every add-back. Sellers who commission their own QoE averaged a 7.4x EBITDA multiple versus 7.0x for those who did not.
Section 195 and Section 248: The First $5,000 Every Founder Can Deduct
Section 195 and Section 248 let founders deduct the first $5,000 of startup costs and the first $5,000 of organizational costs in year one, with the remainder amortized over 180 months. A guide to the $50,000 phase-out, the deemed election, and the mistakes that forfeit the deduction for LLCs, partnerships, and corporations.
Section 7701(b) Substantial Presence Test for Foreign Entrepreneurs: The 183-Day Formula, Closer Connection, and Treaty Tie-Breakers
A practical walkthrough of IRC Section 7701(b) for globally mobile founders — the 31-day floor, the weighted three-year 183-day formula, exempt-individual rules, the closer connection exception (Form 8840), and treaty tie-breakers (Form 8833) — with a worked example showing how 130 U.S. days in 2026 can trigger worldwide taxation.