#accounting
Accounting
Master accounting fundamentals and best practices for plain-text bookkeeping
SECURE 2.0 Super Catch-Up in 2026: How Ages 60–63 Can Save $11,250 Extra and the Auto-Enrollment Mandate for New 401(k)s
Ages 60–63 get $11,250 of catch-up for four years instead of $7,500 — and every 401(k)/403(b) established after 12/29/2022 must auto-enroll 3–10% and auto-escalate to at least 10% starting 2025.
Why Your Daycare's Attendance-Based Subsidy Reimbursement Is Drowning You in Cash Flow Problems
Childcare centers face a structural cash flow crisis as attendance-based subsidy reimbursement returns. Learn how to structure your books to survive volatile enrollment and delayed payments.
Level-Funded Health Plans: Why 40% of Small Employers Are Switching from Traditional Insurance
Level-funded health plans have become the choice of 40% of small employers seeking transparency, refunds, and predictable costs. Learn how the claims-fund-plus-stop-loss model works, accounting implications, and who should consider switching from fully-insured plans.
OMB Uniform Guidance 2026: Federal Grant Compliance Changes for Nonprofits
OMB's 2026 Uniform Guidance overhauls federal grant compliance for nonprofits, adding stricter payment verification, expanded subaward reporting, and tighter cost allowability rules—effective October 1. The comment period closes July 13; here's what changed and why it matters.
Real Estate Agent Bookkeeping After the NAR Settlement: Tracking Off-MLS Commission Negotiations
Post-NAR settlement, real estate brokers must track buyer-agent commissions across buyer agreements, seller offers, and purchase contracts. This guide covers documentation requirements, trust-account reconciliation, and the specific ledger entries that keep your 1099s honest and your licensing board satisfied.
Single-Member LLC in 2026: Disregarded Entity, Corporate Election, and the S-Corp Reasonable-Comp Decision That Saves Self-Employment Tax
By default an LLC is disregarded to Schedule C and pays SE tax on all profit — elect S-corp via 8832/2553, pay yourself reasonable W-2 wages, and distributions escape SE tax when the salary is defensible.
Recordkeeping for Small Business in 2026: What to Keep, How Long, and the Digital Receipt Standard That Survives an Audit
The IRS needs adequate records per position — ordinary items 6 years from filing, payroll 4, property until disposition plus 6 — and a digital image counts only when indexed, legible, and retrievable.
Hiring Your First Employee in 2026: Payroll Registration, W-4 and I-9, Workers' Comp, and the First 30-Day Compliance Checklist
An employee is a registration before the first paycheck — EIN, state withholding and SUI, workers' comp bound, W-4 and I-9 in 3 days, new-hire report in 20 days, 941 deposits by EFTPS.
R&D Tax Credit for Small Business in 2026: How the Section 41 Payroll Offset Gives Startups Up to $500K Against Payroll Tax
Qualified research wages, supplies, and 65% of contract research generate a 14% ASC — and qualified startups can elect up to $500K per year against employer payroll on Form 8974.
Form 1099-NEC vs. 1099-MISC in 2026: $600 Thresholds, January 31 Deadlines, and the $50–$310 Per-Form Penalty Ladder
NEC is for services, MISC is for rent and royalties — both to recipients by Jan 31, but NEC also files to IRS by Jan 31. Miss it and the $60–$310 per-form ladder starts.
Pet Cremation Bookkeeping: Pricing Tiers, Veterinary Referral Splits, and Retort Depreciation
Pet cremation businesses run three revenue models at once (tiered cremation service, veterinary referral commissions, and merchandise sales), and the retort itself depreciates as 7-year MACRS equipment eligible for 100% bonus depreciation on property placed in service after January 19, 2025 — not as a 39-year building improvement.
Beneficial Ownership Reporting in 2026: Who Must File BOI With FinCEN, What Changed After the Court Challenges, and Late Penalties of $591 Per Day
The March 2025 interim final rule exempted domestic reporting companies — foreign-registered entities must still report within 30 days, update within 30 of any change, at $591 per day for willful failure.