Plain-text accounting insights, tutorials, and updates from the Beancount.io team.
Mercury Command, launched June 16, 2026, lets founders run business banking in plain English — checking cash, changing transfer rules, categorizing transactions, and sending invoices — with every action staged for explicit human approval. This guide explains what it does, the agent-card spend controls that followed, and the adoption checklist small businesses need before granting AI payment access.
Kick pays streamers 95% of subscriptions and KICKs through Stripe, and the OBBBA raised the 1099-NEC reporting threshold from $600 to $2,000 for payments made on or after January 1, 2026 — but streaming income is taxable from dollar one, and $400 of net profit triggers self-employment tax whether or not a form arrives.
Karnataka's 2025 LWF amendment cut the coverage threshold from 50-plus to 10-or-more employees with immediate effect; covered employers deduct Rs. 50 per worker in December payroll, add Rs. 100 per worker of their own, and remit plus file Form D by January 15.
After the IRS cut 28% of its workforce, phone waits doubled to 14 minutes, paper processing slowed to 36 days, and audit revenue fell 35%. The small-business playbook is to e-file everything, use the Business Tax Account, respond to notices online, and keep audit-ready books.
Form 15620 can now be submitted through an IRS Online Account, but the 83(b) election's 30-day deadline still has no routine extension. How the election works, when it pays, how to file online or by certified mail, and the six mistakes that sink it.
Enrolling in Medicare Part A after age 65 backdates coverage up to six months, turning HSA contributions made during that window into excess contributions subject to a 6% yearly excise tax. This guide covers the 2026 prorated limits, the Form 5329 penalty, how to withdraw the excess before the filing deadline, and the six-months-ahead shutdown plan.
HP Inc.'s Q3 FY2026 earnings — $15.677B revenue (+12.5%), GAAP diluted EPS of $0.71 and non-GAAP $0.83, both including $0.11 from $127M of IEEPA tariff refunds recorded as a reduction of Products cost. A double-entry Beancount breakdown that isolates the refund as its own posting.
Spa dealers need a 67% markup to earn a 40% margin, receive $55–$75 flat reimbursement on warranty calls that cost far more, and pay 5–20% curtailments on unsold floored units — here is how to book warranty shortfalls, flooring interest, promo fees, and customer deposits so the P&L shows real profit.
Germany's 2026 coalition reform package raises the basic tax-free allowance to €12,564 in 2027 and €12,900 in 2028, starts the 42% band at €70,601, adds a 47% rate above €280,000, and requires a doctor's certificate from the first day of sick leave — here is what each change means for a small employer's payroll desk, plus a dated checklist for January 1, 2027.
The FTC's Green Guides require competent and reliable scientific evidence before an environmental claim runs — an unqualified "recyclable" needs facilities available to at least 60% of consumers, "biodegradable" needs complete breakdown within one year of customary disposal, and California's AB 1305 adds a public disclosure page for carbon-neutral claims at up to $2,500 per day per violation.
Estée Lauder FY2026: net sales $15.05B (+5% reported, +3% organic), net earnings $182M after a $1.13B loss, and adjusted EPS $2.51 (+66%). Fragrance grew 10% organic and mainland China 9%, gross margin expanded 150 bps to 75.5%, and the FY2027 adjusted operating margin guide was raised to 12.7%–13.5% — while the 6-point gap between 5.2% reported and 11.2% adjusted margin remains the story. Tracked in a public Beancount ledger spanning FY2022–FY2026.
A step-by-step end-of-day close for retail and restaurants — X-read, tip adjustments and card batch settlement, Z-report, a blind drawer count, and the three-way match of POS expected against counted cash against bank settlement. Covers over/short thresholds, why overs signal shortchanged customers, posting variances to a cash-over-short account instead of adjusting sales, and the wage-deduction rules that make docking pay for a short drawer risky.
