#compliance
Compliance
Navigate regulatory compliance and maintain audit-ready financial records
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.
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.
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.
Virginia's New 5-Employee Discrimination Threshold: An SB 637 Compliance Guide
Effective July 1, 2026, Virginia's SB 637 drops the Virginia Human Rights Act employer threshold from 15 employees to 5 and extends the filing window from 300 days to two years. Any business with five or more employees for each working day in 20 or more calendar weeks is now covered for every prohibited practice — not just discharge. Here is the 20-week counting rule, a seven-step compliance checklist, and the payroll and retention records an investigator asks for first.
Your Workers' Comp Premium Audit Is Coming: How to Pass Without a Surprise Bill
A workers' comp premium is payroll ÷ 100 × class rate × experience mod, so the year-end audit re-tests both variables against your actual records. This guide covers the three audit types and what triggers each, the documents auditors request, why overtime premium is only excludable when recorded separately by employee and week under NCCI Rule 2-B-2, the 2026 NCCI officer caps of $3,400 weekly maximum and $1,700 minimum, and why payments to a subcontractor without a current certificate of insurance get charged to you as payroll.
Cigar Lounge and Retail Tobacco Shop Bookkeeping: State Excise Tax, Humidor Inventory, and the Membership-Locker Revenue You Are Probably Booking Wrong
Premium cigar lounges pay OTP excise as a capped percentage of wholesale, carry humidor inventory at landed cost with FIFO or average costing, and must defer locker and membership fees as unearned revenue until each month is provided — separating all three keeps margins, taxes, and audits accurate.
New Jersey's New ABC Test Regulations Take Effect October 1, 2026: What Businesses Hiring Contractors Must Prove
New Jersey's ABC test regulations become operative October 1, 2026, clarifying that every worker is an employee unless you prove freedom from control, work outside your usual course or places of business, and an independently established trade — learn the three prongs, five common mistakes, and a pre-deadline audit checklist.
Vacation Rental Trust Accounting: The Three-Way Reconciliation and How to Untangle Batched Airbnb and Vrbo Payouts
Vacation rental managers must prove every trust dollar with a monthly three-way reconciliation. Learn how to tie your bank statement to your books to each owner ledger and cleanly break down batched Airbnb and Vrbo payouts before you disburse.
The DOL Wants to Simplify Independent Contractor Classification: What the Proposed Two-Factor Test Means for Small Businesses That Hire Freelancers
The DOL's February 2026 proposal would replace the six-factor totality test with a weighted two-factor standard focused on control and opportunity for profit or loss — here is how it works, what still depends on state law, and a checklist to audit your freelancer relationships now.
New Jersey Family Leave Act Now Covers Businesses With 15 Employees: What Small Employers Must Do Before July 17, 2026
New Jersey's Family Leave Act drops to 15 employees and 250 hours on July 17, 2026 — learn who is newly covered, how NJFLA differs from FMLA and NJ Family Leave Insurance, and the handbook, payroll, and job-restoration steps small employers must complete.
Anyone Can File a Fake UCC Lien Against Your Business. Rhode Island's SB 3212 Just Changed the Rules.
Rhode Island's SB 3212, signed in June 2026, lets business owners remove fraudulent UCC filings through an administrative complaint, authorizes the Department of State to refuse suspicious filings, and requires misleading "annual report" solicitation letters to disclose that they are advertisements. The same defenses — quarterly UCC searches, entity-record checks, and fee verification — work in every state.
Small-Group Health Insurance Is Up 11% for 2026: What KFF's 318-Insurer Survey Means for Your Renewal Budget
KFF's review of 318 insurers found ACA small-group premiums rising a median 11% for 2026. Learn the five drivers behind the increase, why the smallest employers feel it most, and how to budget your renewal without dropping coverage.