#small-business
Small Business
Financial management strategies and tools for small business owners
The New Customs Enforcement Executive Order: What Every Importer of Record Needs to Do Before the Rules Change
Executive Order 14411, signed June 3, 2026, requires customs bonds or domestic assets for every importer of record, bars foreign IORs from informal entries and continuous bonds, mandates beneficial-ownership disclosures, and sets a 50% minimum penalty floor — with deadlines at 45, 90, and 180 days. Here's what small importers should do before the rules take effect.
Dog Training Business Bookkeeping: Tracking Private Sessions, Group Classes, and Board-and-Train Revenue
How dog trainers should book private sessions, group classes, and board-and-train packages separately — using deferred revenue for prepaid series, COGS tracking for boarding costs, and clean 1099 vs. W-2 classification for instructors.
The DOL's 2026 Independent Contractor Rule: The Five-Factor Test Explained for Small Employers
The Department of Labor's February 2026 proposal would rescind the 2024 six-factor worker classification test and reinstate a five-factor economic reality framework where control and profit-or-loss opportunity carry the most weight. Here's what changed, what still applies, and how small employers should audit their 1099 contractor relationships now.
Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI): What It Covers, What It Costs, and Who Needs It
EPLI covers wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims that general liability policies explicitly exclude. With defense costs averaging $120,000–$160,000 per claim and a median premium around $2,665 a year, here is how any business with employees should weigh the coverage.
Are Health Care Sharing Ministry Payments Tax Deductible? What H.R. 2062 Would Change
Health care sharing ministry payments are not deductible under current IRS rules, but H.R. 2062 and a pending IRS HRA regulation could change that for taxable years after December 31, 2025. What the Tax Parity Act proposes, the after-tax math for self-employed members, and how to keep records ready.
Japan's Qualified Invoice System: What the October 2026 Deductibility Cut Means for Freelancers and Their Clients
On October 1, 2026, Japan's transitional 80% input-credit for consumption tax paid to unregistered suppliers shrinks — to 70% under the FY2026 tax reform taper, then 50% in 2028, 30% in 2030, and 0% by October 2031 — while the 2-wari tokurei simplified rate for newly registered small businesses expires. Here's what Japanese freelancers, small suppliers, and the buyers who rely on them should do before the deadline.
Missouri Just Eliminated Its Capital Gains Tax: What It Means for Business Owners Who Sell
Missouri's HB 594, signed July 10, 2025, made it the first state to fully exempt individuals from state capital gains tax — a 100% subtraction covering stocks, real estate, crypto, and pass-through business sales, with C corporations waiting on a 4.5% rate trigger. Here's who qualifies, what's excluded, and how it changes exit timing for business owners.
New Jersey's ABC Test: What the Final Independent Contractor Rule Means Before October 1, 2026
New Jersey's finalized ABC test regulations take effect October 1, 2026. Here's what each of the three prongs requires, what changed in the NJDOL's final rule, the penalties for misclassification — up to $1,000 per worker, 200% liquidated damages, and stop-work orders — and how to audit your 1099 contractor relationships before enforcement begins.
Parametric Insurance, Explained: The Instant-Payout Coverage Filling the Gaps Traditional Insurance Leaves Behind
Parametric insurance pays a pre-agreed amount within days — sometimes hours — once an objective trigger like wind speed, rainfall, or earthquake magnitude is confirmed by third-party data, with no adjuster involved. A guide for small businesses on where it fills gaps traditional coverage misses, the $4.29B U.S. market behind it, and how to evaluate basis risk before buying.
The Quick Ratio (Acid-Test Ratio): The Liquidity Number Lenders Trust More Than Your Current Ratio
The quick ratio (acid-test ratio) measures whether a business can cover current liabilities using only cash, marketable securities, and receivables — deliberately excluding inventory and prepaid expenses. Covers the formula with a worked example, why loan covenants often set a quick-ratio minimum instead of a current-ratio one, why 1.0 is the textbook benchmark but fast-turn retailers healthily run 0.3–0.4, and the mistakes that make the ratio misleading.
Cash-Flow Lending Explained: How Relay Capital and Embedded Lenders Fund Businesses Banks Reject
Big banks reject roughly 85–87% of small business loan applications. Cash-flow lenders like Relay Capital instead underwrite 3–6 months of bank statements, approving $1,000–$250,000 term loans in minutes with funding in 1–2 days. Here's how cash-flow underwriting works, what it costs, and how to keep books a lender can actually read.
Restaurant Reservation Deposits and No-Show Fees: The Deferred Revenue Guide
Restaurant no-shows cost the U.S. industry roughly $16 billion a year, and the deposits that fight them create a bookkeeping trap — under ASC 606 a reservation deposit is a liability, not revenue, until the guest dines or forfeits. Here's how to record deposits as deferred revenue, book no-show forfeitures as breakage, and reconcile net payouts from OpenTable, Resy, and Tock.