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Mike Thrift

Marketing Manager

Home Depot Q2 FY2026 Earnings: 75% of the Sales Growth Came From the SRS Distribution Bet

Home Depot's Q2 FY2026 sales rose 5.7% to $47.86B, but the Other/SRS distribution segment supplied about 75% of the $2.58B increase at a 4.9% operating margin versus 15.4% for retail. Roughly $685M of IEEPA tariff refunds cut cost of goods sold; backing it out puts inferred gross margin near 32.2% and operating margin near 12.9%, while comparable transactions fell 1.0%.

Is Shipping Taxable? A Practical State-by-State Guide for Small Businesses

Whether shipping is taxable depends on the destination state, the taxability of the items, who billed the delivery, and whether the customer could avoid the charge. This guide covers the five questions that control the answer, the main state-rule patterns in New York, Texas, California, Florida, Illinois, and North Carolina, how to allocate delivery charges on mixed taxable and exempt orders, and a monthly checklist for defensible shipping-tax records.

Target Q2 FY2026 Earnings: $1.65 of the $4.11 EPS Came From a Tariff Refund

Target's Q2 FY2026 net sales rose 5.3% to $26.54B and diluted EPS doubled to $4.11, but $994M of tariff refunds cut cost of sales and supplied $1.65 of that EPS plus 3.7 points of operating margin. Excluding the refund, operating income still grew about 19% and gross margin was near 29.9%, on comparable sales of +3.8% led by 3.6% traffic growth and 8.7% digital growth.

USDA Just Let Your Farm's LLC Stack Payment Limits — but Only If Your Books Prove It by September 15

USDA's June 2026 final rule lets farm LLCs and S corporations claim one ARC/PLC payment limit per actively engaged owner — up to $164,000 per person for 2026 — but only if entity structure, per-member contributions, and farm/non-farm income splits are documented with FSA by September 15, 2026. Here's the bookkeeping that proves it.

How Small Business Owners Can Harvest Long-Term Capital Gains at 0% in 2026

In 2026, the 0% federal long-term capital gains rate applies up to $49,450 of taxable income for single filers and $98,900 for joint filers. This guide shows small business owners how to forecast taxable income, size a year-end gain harvest with the stacking rule, and avoid the basis, holding-period, and estimated-tax mistakes that turn a 0% plan into a tax bill.

Carnival FY2026 Q2 Earnings: The $9.0B Liability That Makes the Demand Story

Carnival's FY2026 Q2 revenue rose 5.3% to $6.66B while operating income fell 8.9% — fuel cost per metric ton jumped 29% to $793 and net income slipped to $539M. Customer deposits reached $9.0B, cash-backed proof of booked demand that is still a refundable liability sitting against $23.4B of long-term debt. Every figure traced line by line in a public Beancount ledger covering FY2021 through Q2 FY2026.

EU Platform Work Directive Deadline: What US Businesses Hiring European Freelancers Must Do Before December 2, 2026

The EU Platform Work Directive (2024/2831) must become national law in all member states by December 2, 2026, creating a rebuttable presumption that platform workers are employees. US businesses hiring EU-based freelancers through digital platforms face reclassification risk, algorithmic transparency duties, and new data-processing bans — this guide covers the six pillars, a 10-month compliance playbook, and the bookkeeping changes to make now.