#small-business
Financial management strategies and tools for small business owners
Since 2023 plan years only 401(k) participants with account balances count toward the 100-participant large-plan line, so a 60-employee company can owe an $8,000 to $12,000 IQPA audit with its Form 5500. This guide covers the day-one count, how the 80-120 rule defers the audit, the July 31 and October 15 deadlines, and a first-audit preparation checklist.
Under the FLSA's suffered-or-permitted standard (29 CFR 785.11), a nonexempt employee's four-minute reply to a 9 p.m. text is compensable work if you knew or had reason to know it happened, and the de minimis rule in 29 CFR 785.47 rarely covers timestamped, recurring message time. This guide covers exempt-vs-nonexempt classification at the $684-per-week salary floor, the four timekeeping setups that manufacture violations, the two-to-three-year lookback with doubled liquidated damages, and a five-habit compliance playbook for small employers.
A bar crawl company sells admission, not alcohol, so it usually needs no liquor license, but a $25 ticket can lose over $3.60 to platform and processing fees before a single guide is paid. Here is how to structure written per-head venue deals, book pass-through covers as liabilities instead of revenue, defer advance ticket sales until the event, clear city pub-crawl permits, carry $1–2 million in liability coverage, and decide whether guides are W-2 employees or 1099 contractors.
The Cohan rule lets a court estimate an ordinary business deduction when you can prove the money was spent but not the exact amount — and Section 274(d) forbids that estimate entirely for travel, entertainment, gifts, and vehicles. Here is what reconstruction evidence actually persuades an examiner, why bank statements alone usually fail, and a six-step playbook for rebuilding a missing-receipt file.
Connecticut's amended Data Privacy Act took effect July 1, 2026, cutting the applicability threshold from 100,000 to 35,000 consumers, adding zero-threshold triggers for sensitive data and data sales, and removing the guaranteed 60-day cure period. Here is what changed, what arrives October 1, and a six-step checklist for small businesses.
Any business hosting user uploads, reviews, or listings loses DMCA safe harbor unless it designates an agent with the Copyright Office for $6, renews that designation every three years, and actually enforces a repeat-infringer policy. This guide covers registration, the six elements of a valid takedown notice, the 10-to-14-business-day putback window, and the records that prove compliance.
Federal law lets employers exclude up to eight hours of sleep time from a shift of 24 hours or more — never from a shorter one — and only with adequate sleeping quarters, usually uninterrupted sleep, and an agreement. Every interruption is paid, and fewer than five consecutive hours of sleep makes the entire window compensable.
Three FMCSA final rules effective July 22, 2026 end federal CDL conviction self-reporting, drop the in-cab ELD operator's manual, and make roadside inspection report returns on-request only. Hours-of-service limits, drug-and-alcohol testing, annual MVR checks, driver qualification files and defect correction are unchanged; this guide covers what moved, what did not, and a 30-day small-fleet checklist.
Medicare's IRMAA surcharge sets your 2026 Part B and Part D premiums from your 2024 tax return, and crossing a bracket by one dollar triggers the full tier — up to roughly $14,000 a year above standard premiums for a couple. Here is how business sales, Roth conversions and RMDs trigger it, the 2026 thresholds, and how to file Form SSA-44 after retirement or another qualifying life-changing event.
Under Section 7502 a return mailed on or before its due date is deemed filed on the postmark date — but only if it actually arrives, and a postage-meter date never counts. Since December 24, 2025, USPS postmarks reflect regional processing rather than deposit, so certified mail or a free manual postmark is the proof that holds.
Every U.S. employer must report each new hire and qualifying rehire to a State Directory of New Hires within 20 days of the first day of paid work, and electronic filers may batch reports 12 to 16 days apart. This guide covers the six required data points, the one-state designation that lets multistate employers file to a single directory, California and New York independent-contractor reporting rules, and the federal penalty cap of $25 per unreported employee rising to $500 for collusion.
The IRS finalized the No Tax on Tips regulations in April 2026 with a closed list of 71 qualifying occupations, a new W-2 Box 14b for up to two three-digit occupation codes, Box 12 code TP for qualified tips, and a voluntariness test that disqualifies automatic gratuities and POS flows with no zero option. Here is what tipped employers must change in payroll, point-of-sale and bookkeeping before 2026 forms go out.
