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Compliance

Navigate regulatory compliance and maintain audit-ready financial records

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11 min read

Illinois Just Rewrote Its Pawnbroker Law: What the Auto-Title Ban and New Reporting Rules Mean for Your Shop's Books

Illinois replaced its pawnbroker statute with the Pawnbroker Regulation Act of 2023, ending auto-title advances under a pawn license, capping active licenses at 250 statewide (150 in specified populous counties), and adding electronic police reporting plus aggregate data collection. Here is how to structure a pawn shop's chart of accounts, book forfeitures at lower of cost or net realizable value, and run off title-secured balances separately.

Mike Thrift

complianceconsumer-protectionloans
9 min read

Missouri's Paid Sick Leave Whiplash: What Employers Should Track After the Prop A Repeal (and Before the 2026 Ballot Rematch)

Missouri's paid sick leave mandate took effect May 1, 2025 and was repealed effective August 28, 2025, while the scheduled $15.00 minimum wage still arrives January 1, 2026. Here is how to close the 17-week accrual window in your books, keep the payroll codes dormant instead of deleting them, and stay ready for the 2026 ballot rematch.

Mike Thrift

payrollcomplianceemployee-benefits
10 min read

New York's Gig Delivery Worker Law: What the $22.13 Pay Floor, Tip Rules, and Weekly Payouts Mean for Your Restaurant's Books

New York City's app-based delivery rules — a $22.13 hourly courier pay floor for pay periods beginning on or after April 1, 2026, tipping offered at checkout with a 10% suggested minimum, and weekly itemized payouts — change what a restaurant has to record. Book gross marketplace sales, itemize every platform fee, run tips through a liability account that ends at zero, and the January 1099-K reconciles itself.

Mike Thrift

restaurantsmall-businessbookkeeping
11 min read

NYC Banned Hidden Hotel Fees and Surprise Card Holds: A Compliance and Bookkeeping Guide

Since February 21, 2026, New York City requires hotels and short-term rental hosts to advertise an all-in total price including every mandatory fee, and to disclose credit card holds and advance deposits before the guest pays. Here is how the rule differs from the federal FTC junk-fee rule, what counts as mandatory, and how to keep room revenue, fee revenue, deposits, and incidental holds straight in your ledger.

Mike Thrift

junk-feesall-in-pricingpricing-transparency
13 min read

Why Splitting Cash Deposits to Stay Under $10,000 Can Be a Federal Crime — Even When the Money Is Clean

Structuring — breaking cash into sub-$10,000 deposits to avoid a Currency Transaction Report — is a felony under 31 U.S.C. 5324 carrying up to 5 years in prison, and the government never has to prove the money was dirty. Here is how CTRs and Form 8300 actually work, which innocent deposit habits look like evasion, and the cash records that prove your intent.

Mike Thrift

compliancebsafincen
9 min read

The Student FICA Exemption: Who Qualifies, and Where Payroll Gets It Wrong

Wages paid to a student by the school they attend are exempt from the 7.65% FICA tax under IRC Section 3121(b)(10), but only when the worker clears all four Revenue Procedure 2005-11 tests — at least half-time enrollment, under 40 hours a week across all campus jobs, no professional role, and no career-employee benefits. This guide covers the safe harbor, the five-week break rule, the graduation cliff, and how to correct withholding in either direction.

Mike Thrift

payrolltax-compliancewithholding
10 min read

When a TPS Work Permit Expires: A Restaurant Employer's I-9 Reverification and Payroll Playbook

Haiti and Syria TPS employment authorization documents have lapsed after a summer of shifting USCIS dates, and continuing to schedule an affected worker exposes a restaurant to per-worker penalties under INA section 274A. This guide covers the Form I-9 Supplement B reverification sequence, the five mistakes that turn paperwork into a discrimination claim, and how to book the overtime, temp-agency, and recruiting costs of rebuilding a roster.

Mike Thrift

restaurantpayrollcompliance
9 min read

Trump Accounts and ERISA: How to Offer the $2,500 Employer Contribution Without Creating a Plan

DOL Technical Release 2026-02 says employer Trump Account contribution programs generally are not ERISA pension plans, provided participation is voluntary and the employer adds no conditions, investment influence, ERISA claims, or extra consideration. This guide covers the four conditions, how the $2,500 per-employee and $5,000 per-child caps interact, and the payroll coding that keeps both reconciled.

Mike Thrift

employee-benefitspayrollcompliance
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