Plain-text accounting insights, tutorials, and updates from the Beancount.io team.
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.
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.
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.
A Solo 401(k) with voluntary after-tax contributions lets self-employed owners shelter up to $72,000 in 2026 — or $83,250 with the age-60-to-63 catch-up — by converting after-tax dollars to Roth with no income limits. Here's how the three contribution buckets work, a worked example at $150,000 of net earnings, and what your plan document must allow.
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.
Exclusive and regular use decides eligibility before math — then pick $5 per square foot up to $1,500 or actual allocations. Keep the dated floor plan that proves the room and the method that fits your sale timeline.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Commercial umbrella insurance adds extra liability coverage above general liability, commercial auto, and employer's liability limits — typically $400–$7,000+ per year per $1 million layer. With 135 nuclear verdicts totaling $31.3 billion in 2024 and carriers cutting available limits, here's how small businesses should size and price umbrella coverage in 2026.
