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Small Business

Financial management strategies and tools for small business owners

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17 min read

Back-to-School Sales Tax Holidays in 17 States: Dates, Price Caps, and Why Your Online Store Isn't Exempt

Seventeen states run back-to-school sales tax holidays in summer 2026, from Florida's 32-day window to Iowa's Friday-Saturday weekend, each with its own price caps — $75 clothing in Ohio, $300 in Connecticut, $40 on Maryland backpacks. Participation is mandatory for most registered retailers, and destination sourcing means online sellers with nexus must honor the holiday of the delivery state.

Mike Thrift

sales-taxtax-compliancemulti-state-tax
16 min read

Business Overhead Expense Insurance: Who Pays Rent and Payroll If You Can't Work?

Business Overhead Expense (BOE) disability insurance reimburses a business for fixed costs — rent, staff payroll, utilities, leases — when the owner can't work due to illness or injury. It excludes the owner's own salary, pays 12 to 24 months after a 30-, 60-, or 90-day elimination period, and typically costs 1% to 3% of the monthly benefit per year. Premiums are deductible; benefits are taxable to the business.

Mike Thrift

insurancebusiness-insurancerisk-management
16 min read

Cold Plunge and Sauna Recovery Studio Bookkeeping: Presales, Six-Figure Build-Outs, and the Utilization Math That Decides Your Margin

How to book a cold plunge and sauna recovery studio from presale to full capacity — founding-member cash held as deferred revenue under ASC 606, a $110,000–$250,000 build-out split between Section 179 equipment and 15-year qualified improvement property, and the three utilization KPIs (plunge occupancy, revenue per plunge-hour, churn by wait-time cohort) that show whether another chiller pays.

Mike Thrift

bookkeepingdeferred-revenuerevenue-recognition
19 min read

The FDCPA Won't Help You Collect That Unpaid Invoice: A Small Business Owner's B2B Collection Playbook

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act covers consumer debt collected by third parties, so it does not govern a business chasing its own overdue B2B invoices — contract law, UCC Article 2, and state unfair-practice statutes do. This guide explains the two FDCPA tests most commercial receivables fail, and gives a five-step recovery sequence from contract clauses and a follow-up cadence through demand letter, small claims or a 15–40% contingency agency, and judgment enforcement.

Mike Thrift

accounts-receivablecollections-managementcash-flow
15 min read

Your $35,568 Salary No Longer Makes Someone Exempt: 2026 Overtime Salary Thresholds in Six States

The federal FLSA salary threshold for the white-collar exemptions is still $684 a week ($35,568 a year) in 2026 after the 2024 DOL rule was vacated and rescinded, but six states set higher floors - Washington $1,541.70/week, California $1,352.00, New York $1,275.00 in the NYC metro and $1,199.10 elsewhere, Colorado $1,057.69, Alaska $938.40, and Maine $871.16. The threshold that applies is the one for the state where the work is performed, and a failed classification exposes two years of unpaid overtime (three if willful) plus liquidated damages that double the recovery.

Mike Thrift

payrollcompliancesmall-business
18 min read

How Far Back Can the IRS Audit Your Small Business? The 3-Year, 6-Year, and Unlimited Rules Every Owner Should Know

The IRS normally has three years from the filing date to assess additional tax under IRC 6501(a), six years if you omit more than 25% of gross income, and unlimited time if you never filed or filed fraudulently. Parallel clocks run alongside it - 10 years to collect, 3 years to claim a refund, 4 years for employment tax records, and property basis until disposition plus 3 - which is why most CPAs tell small businesses to default financial records to six years.

Mike Thrift

audittax-compliancerecordkeeping
13 min read

Your Liquor License Is a 15-Year Asset: Section 197 Amortization and Why Annual Renewals Are Different

Under IRC Section 197, a liquor license is an intangible you must capitalize and amortize straight-line over 180 months starting the later of acquisition or opening month — no bonus depreciation, no shorter life, no half-month convention. Routine annual renewal fees paid to the state to maintain a license you already hold are generally deductible in the year paid. This guide covers what belongs in basis, the journal entries, Form 8594 allocation when you buy a bar, and five bookkeeping mistakes that misstate hospitality books.

Mike Thrift

tax-deductionssmall-businessrestaurant
20 min read

Phantom Stock Plans for Small Businesses: Reward Key Employees Without Giving Away Ownership

A phantom stock plan grants key employees hypothetical units that track company value and settle in cash — no shares issued, no dilution, no voting rights. Payouts are ordinary income subject to FICA when paid, the employer deducts them in the same year, and cash-settled awards are liability awards remeasured at fair value each reporting period. Paying within 2½ months after the year units vest satisfies Section 409A's short-term deferral exemption; a two-to-three-participant plan typically costs $4,000–$10,000 to launch.

Mike Thrift

executive-compensationemployee-benefitscompensation
16 min read

Pickleball Facility Bookkeeping: Court Rental, Membership, and Programming Revenue

A pickleball club sells court time, memberships, clinics, retail, and events off the same square footage, each with a different margin and revenue-recognition trigger. Covers the income-account split, the three KPIs that decide profitability (court utilization rate, revenue per available court hour, margin by line), deferred-revenue treatment for prepaid memberships and credit packs, what to capitalize versus expense, and a 60-minute month-end close.

Mike Thrift

bookkeepingsmall-businessrevenue-recognition
17 min read

Print-on-Demand Bookkeeping: Why Your Printful Bill Is COGS, Not an Expense

Printful and Printify fulfillment charges typically run 45-55% of retail price and belong in Schedule C Part III as cost of goods sold, not in general expenses. This guide separates the two print-on-demand models, shows why a 50% COGS ratio means a $30 sale yields about $6 of contribution after ads and processing, and lays out a chart of accounts and monthly reconciliation that keep margins and taxes correct.

Mike Thrift

print-on-demandcost-of-goods-solde-commerce
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