Skip to main content

#insurance

Insurance

Track insurance costs, premiums, and coverage details

167 postsView all tagsBack to All Posts
9 min read

Tax Liability Insurance in Small Business M&A: How to Close a Deal With a Known Tax Risk

Tax liability insurance transfers one specific, identified tax risk — an invalid S-corp election, a Section 382 NOL limit, QSBS eligibility — to an insurer instead of a price cut, escrow, or seller indemnity. Premiums run 2–5% of the insured limit, underwriting takes two to four weeks, and most carriers want exposure above roughly $1 million. Here's how it works and when to raise it before a closing deadline.

Mike Thrift

mergers-and-acquisitionsinsurancetax-planning
9 min read

Aerial Banner Towing & Skywriting Company Bookkeeping: The FAA Waiver That Gates Every Flight Hour

How banner towing and skywriting operators should keep their books — track the FAA Certificate of Waiver (Form 7711-2) as the license that gates revenue, accrue engine-overhaul reserves per flight hour, treat client deposits as deferred revenue until the flight flies, and reserve peak-season cash against twelve months of fixed costs.

Mike Thrift

bookkeepingsmall-businesscompliance
8 min read

Commercial Insurance Rates in 2026: Which Lines Are Falling, Which Are Rising, and How to Negotiate Your Renewal

US commercial insurance premiums fell for the first time since 2017 — but only in some lines. Property is down up to 25%, cyber is soft, while general liability, commercial auto, and umbrella are still rising 7–15% on social inflation and $31 billion in nuclear verdicts. A line-by-line 2026 renewal guide with negotiation tactics for small businesses.

Mike Thrift

business-insuranceinsurancerisk-management
9 min read

Bookkeeping for Ammunition Reloading Supply Shops: Component Sales, FAET, and Lot-Level Inventory

A reloading supply shop that only sells bullets, brass, primers, and powder owes no federal ammunition excise tax — but loading and selling finished ammunition triggers an 11% FAET liability filed quarterly on TTB Form 5300.26. This guide covers the chart of accounts, lot-number FIFO inventory tracking, and hazmat freight costing that keep a component retailer or hybrid manufacturer compliant.

Mike Thrift

bookkeepingsmall-businessinventory
8 min read

Commercial Umbrella Insurance for Small Businesses: What It Covers, What It Costs, and How Much You Need

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.

Mike Thrift

business-insuranceinsurancesmall-business
7 min read

Parametric Insurance, Explained: The Instant-Payout Coverage Filling the Gaps Traditional Insurance Leaves Behind

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.

Mike Thrift

insurancebusiness-insurancesmall-business
10 min read

Split-Dollar Life Insurance, Explained: How Business Owners and Key Employees Share the Cost of a Policy

Split-dollar life insurance is an agreement — not a policy type — for an employer and a key employee to divide the premiums, cash value, and death benefit of one permanent policy. This guide compares the two structures (collateral assignment vs. endorsement), explains how the IRS taxes each under the economic benefit and loan regimes, why premiums are never deductible, and how to book the arrangement correctly from day one.

Mike Thrift

insuranceemployee-benefitsexecutive-compensation
9 min read

Commercial Fleet Insurance for Small Businesses: 2026 Costs, What Drives Your Premium, and Six Ways to Lower It

Small-business fleets of light-duty vehicles typically pay $150–$450 per vehicle per month in 2026 — cargo vans around $189, box trucks $300–$900+ — and new ventures pay 30–50% more than established ones. This guide explains the five factors underwriters actually price (driver MVRs, garaging location, mileage, limits, claims history) and six concrete ways to cut the premium, including telematics discounts of 10–30%, annual-pay savings of 5–10%, and per-vehicle cost tracking.

Mike Thrift

insurancebusiness-insurancesmall-business
9 min read

Independent Real Estate Appraiser Bookkeeping: Making Sense of AMC Fee Splits, USPAP Engagement Letters, and E&O Costs

AMCs commonly keep 30–50% of the borrower-paid appraisal fee — in documented cases an appraiser received $205 of an $834 fee. This guide shows independent appraisers how to reconcile AMC payouts against engagement letters, structure a chart of accounts around E&O insurance and mileage, accrue fees at report delivery to catch underpayment, and estimate quarterly taxes off net rather than gross 1099 income.

Mike Thrift

bookkeepingreal-estateindependent-contractor
8 min read

Cyber Insurance for Small Businesses in 2026: What It Costs, What It Covers, and Where Claims Get Denied

Small business cyber insurance runs roughly $400–$1,600 a year for a $1 million limit, while the average breach recovery costs $120,000 and downtime $53,000 an hour. A guide to first-party vs. third-party coverage, 2026 premium drivers, and the social-engineering sublimits and MFA requirements that most often sink claims.

Mike Thrift

insurancebusiness-insurancesmall-business
Start Free→Documentation