#payments
Payments
Manage payment processing, tracking, and reconciliation efficiently
PCI DSS 4.0 Compliance Guide for Small Merchants in 2026
PCI DSS 4.0's transition period ended March 31, 2025, so every merchant assessment from 2026 onward now enforces mandatory payment-page script monitoring, MFA for all cardholder-data access, and authenticated internal vulnerability scans — noncompliance risks $5,000-$100,000 monthly fines from acquiring banks plus an average $173,692 added breach cost per IBM's research.
Reconciling the Robot Shopper: A Small Business Guide to AI Agent Checkout Bookkeeping
How small businesses can reconcile AI agent-initiated purchases under ACP and AP2, tag agent-channel sales, track transaction fees, and defend against the chargeback risk of non-human checkouts.
The Visa/Mastercard Interchange Settlement: A Small Business Guide to Surcharging
Visa and Mastercard's 2026 interchange settlement caps credit card surcharges at 3% of the transaction or the merchant's actual cost of acceptance, whichever is lower, and requires 30 days' written notice to your processor before you can start charging it.
Corporate Cards and Spend Management in 2026: Choosing Between Ramp, Brex, and the Rest After the Capital One Deal
Capital One's $5.15 billion acquisition of Brex, which closed in April 2026, adds integration and roadmap uncertainty to a corporate card market that also includes Ramp, BILL Spend & Expense, and Aspire, so small businesses now need to weigh vendor stability alongside features and pricing.
Interchange vs. Markup: What's Actually Negotiable in Credit Card Processing Fees
Credit card processing is three stacked fees — interchange, network assessments, and processor markup — but only the markup is negotiable, and on $30,000 in monthly volume the gap between flat-rate and a well-negotiated interchange-plus deal can run $200-$400 a month.
Involuntary Churn: A Guide to Recovering Failed SaaS Payments
Involuntary churn accounts for 20-40% of total subscription churn and drains roughly 9% of MRR industry-wide, but smart retries, dunning emails, and card account updaters can recover 60-80% of it if failed charges are booked as AR, not lost revenue.
Business Email Compromise: The Accounts Payable Controls That Stop Wire Fraud
Business email compromise cost U.S. victims over $3 billion in reported losses in 2025, and 86% of it moves by wire or ACH. Six accounts payable controls — callback verification, dual approval, vendor master file locks — stop fraudulent transfers before the money leaves.
Passing Credit Card Fees to Customers: Surcharges, Cash Discounts, and Dual Pricing in 2026
Surcharging, cash discounts, and dual pricing are the three legal ways to pass card fees to customers in 2026—surcharges cap at 3% (Visa) and are banned in CT, ME, and MA, while cash discounts and dual pricing are legal in all 50 states and skip the 30-day network notice.
Buy Now, Pay Later Is Quietly Breaking Your Books: A Merchant's Guide to Accounting for Klarna, Affirm, and Afterpay
BNPL providers pay merchants the full sale price minus a fee, then report gross volume on a 1099-K — so recording only the net deposit understates revenue and triggers IRS underreporter notices. Record gross sales through per-provider clearing accounts to keep fees, reserves, and 1099-K totals reconciled.
How to Reconcile Payment Processor Payouts: A Clearing Account Guide
A payment processor payout bundles gross sales, fees, refunds, chargebacks, sales tax, and rolling reserves into one net deposit. Route every piece through a clearing account so your books tie out to the penny and match the gross volume on your 1099-K.
OFAC Sanctions Compliance for Small Businesses: SDN Screening, the 50% Rule, and Voluntary Self-Disclosure
OFAC enforcement now targets fintech, crypto, real estate, and small e-commerce firms with civil penalties up to $377,700 per violation. A practical guide to SDN list screening, the 50 percent ownership rule, voluntary self-disclosure under the 2026 portal, and the five-pillar compliance program Treasury expects from any company touching cross-border money.
PCI DSS 4.0.1 in 2026: The Small Merchant's Guide to SAQ A, Script Tampering, and MFA
PCI DSS v4.0.1 governs every 2026 assessment, and FAQ 1588 has narrowed who qualifies for SAQ A. This guide walks small merchants through the new script-tampering rules (6.4.3 and 11.6.1), the 12-character password and MFA requirements, what non-compliance actually costs, and a 12-step checklist for getting it right.