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Mike Thrift

Marketing Manager

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15 min read

New Jersey's $5,000 to $1.5 Million Data Broker Law: What Selling Customer Data Now Costs Small Businesses

New Jersey's A5328 (signed June 30 2026) charges $5,000 to $1.5 million a year to register as a data broker, and extends that regime to first-party 'data collectors' that sell data gathered from their own customers. Selling sensitive data is banned outright with no consent exception at $50,000 per record, effective immediately, while registration and fees are expected to be enforced from June 2027 under a $2,500-per-day penalty.

Mike Thrift

complianceprivacyregulatory
12 min read

Personal Training Studio Bookkeeping: Why That 12-Session Package Isn't Revenue Yet

An $840 twelve-session package is a liability, not income — you recognize $70 each time you deliver. This guide covers the deferred revenue journal entries, breakage and refund handling, the IRS control test that decides whether a trainer is W-2 or 1099-NEC, and the pricing math that shows a $70 package session leaving $40 after a $30 fixed-cost floor.

Mike Thrift

bookkeepingdeferred-revenuerevenue-recognition
14 min read

The 23% QBI Deduction Explained: What the Small Business Tax Cut Act Could Mean for Your Pass-Through Income

H.R. 8415 would raise the Section 199A qualified business income deduction from 20% to 23% — an extra $3,000 of deduction on $100,000 of QBI, worth $660 to $960 in tax depending on your bracket. Here is how the deduction works in 2026 after OBBBA made it permanent, which W-2 wage and SSTB limits still apply, and how to keep books that support the number you claim.

Mike Thrift

tax-deductionstax-planningsmall-business
17 min read

QuickBooks Desktop 2023 Support Ended May 31, 2026: Your Migration Checklist

QuickBooks Desktop 2023 hit end of support on May 31, 2026 — payroll tax tables stopped updating, bank feeds, Desktop Payments, direct deposit, e-filing, Workforce, online backup and security patches all shut off on June 1, while local company files still open normally. A pre-migration cleanup checklist, the three viable paths (QuickBooks Online, Enterprise, or a different platform), the Desktop-to-Online export steps, and the post-migration reconciliation that proves the ledger moved intact.

Mike Thrift

quickbooksmigrationpayroll
12 min read

Is a Remote Work Stipend Taxable? Accountable Plans, Substantiation, and What Lands on the W-2

A $75-a-month internet stipend paid without documentation is supplemental wages — reportable in W-2 Box 1 and costing the employer roughly 7.65% in matching payroll tax on top. The same $75 is tax-free and off the W-2 under a written accountable plan meeting all three tests in Treasury Regulation 1.62-2 — business connection, substantiation within 60 days, and return of excess within 120 days. This guide covers the two IRS paths, the five mistakes that flip a plan to taxable, the separate GL accounts and payroll pay types that keep the treatment straight, and the state statutes that require reimbursement regardless of federal tax treatment.

Mike Thrift

remote-workaccountable-planpayroll
15 min read

Is an 18% Service Charge a Tip? The IRS Four-Factor Test and What It Costs Your Restaurant Payroll

A mandatory service charge fails the IRS four-factor tip test, so it is wages rather than tip income — you owe both FICA shares on it, lose the Section 45B credit on Form 8846, and it is excluded from the new OBBBA qualified-tip deduction. Covers the four-factor test, the journal entries that keep Service Charge Revenue separate from Tips Payable, and the payroll, tip-credit, sales tax, and fee-disclosure changes a restaurant hits the day it switches.

Mike Thrift

restaurantpayrolltax-compliance
16 min read

When 5% of Your Customers Drive 40% of Your Returns: Serial Returners, Returns Reserves, and Refund Liability

ASC 606 treats a right of return as variable consideration, so an $80,000 sales month with a 9% historical return rate is $72,800 of net revenue, a $7,200 refund liability, and a recoverable-inventory asset — not $80,000 booked as final. This guide shows how to build a category-weighted reserve from 12 months of your own data, flag the 5 to 10% of buyers who generate 30 to 40% of returns, and apply graduated account limits that stay documented and defensible.

Mike Thrift

ecommerceretailrevenue-recognition
17 min read

The Silver Tsunami Is Here: How to Buy or Sell a Business in the $5 Trillion Great Ownership Transfer

About 6 million U.S. small and mid-sized businesses will change hands by 2035 as baby boomer owners retire, and McKinsey estimates more than 1 million of those are sellable, representing up to $5 trillion in enterprise value — yet only about 35% of owners have a succession plan. This guide covers the three-year seller timeline, how valuation multiples of 2x to 4x SDE are earned, SBA 7(a) and seller-financing structures for buyers, due diligence, and the bookkeeping habits that separate a sellable business from one that quietly closes.

Mike Thrift

succession-planningbusiness-exitbusiness-valuation
13 min read

Your Business Is Not a Retirement Plan: Why 34% of Owners Save Nothing and How to Fix It in 2026

34% of U.S. small business owners have no retirement plan, and more than 80% of a typical owner's net worth sits inside the business. This guide compares the SEP IRA, Solo 401(k), and SIMPLE IRA at 2026 limits ($72,000, $24,500 deferral, $17,000), explains the SECURE 2.0 credits worth up to $5,000 a year for three years, and gives a five-step plan to start saving this quarter.

Mike Thrift

retirement-plansretirement-savingssep-ira
13 min read

Vermont Saves and New York Secure Choice: The 2026 Auto-IRA Rules for Small Employers

Vermont Saves reached employers with five or more workers on July 1, 2026, and New York Secure Choice finished its three-wave rollout on July 15, 2026. What each program requires, the penalties ($20 rising to $75 per employee in Vermont, $250 per employee per year in New York), and how to book the withholding as a payroll liability rather than an expense.

Mike Thrift

payrollretirement-planscompliance
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