#recordkeeping
Recordkeeping
Business recordkeeping requirements, document retention periods, and audit-ready documentation practices
FinCEN's BOI Exemption Isn't Law Yet: What H.R. 425 Would Lock In for Your LLC
FinCEN's March 2025 interim final rule exempts domestic LLCs and corporations from BOI reporting, but the relief lives in regulation; H.R. 425 would codify it in statute—this guide explains who is exempt today, who still must file (foreign reporting companies), and the bookkeeping to keep while Congress decides.
FinCEN Finally Ended BOI Reporting for U.S. Companies: What You Still Need to Track in 2026
As of the August 14, 2026 final rule, every U.S.-formed LLC, corporation, and partnership is exempt from FinCEN Beneficial Ownership Information reporting; only foreign entities registered to do business in the U.S. must still file, within 30 days. Domestic companies file nothing, but bank CDD collection, state disclosures, and clean ownership records still apply.
The 10-Year PPP Fraud Clock: Why Forgiven Loans Stay Enforceable Until 2030
Congress set a 10-year statute of limitations for PPP fraud, so a loan funded in 2020 can be charged until 2030 and forgiveness is not a defense. This guide covers False Claims Act liability, the five eligibility tripwires still generating cases, and the six-year record-retention rule borrowers must meet.
Personal Chef and Private Catering Bookkeeping: Grocery COGS, the Home-Kitchen Deduction, and Per-Client Profitability
How personal chefs and private caterers separate client grocery COGS from household spending, claim the home-kitchen deduction under the exclusive-use test, and job-cost every booking — with target food-cost ranges of 28–38% for weekly meal prep and 25–35% for private dinners.
Your AI Notetaker Could Be a Wiretap: What Small Businesses Risk When an AI Bot Joins the Call
AI meeting notetakers can trigger all-party consent rules in roughly a dozen states and create voiceprints regulated by Illinois BIPA, which carries $1,000 per negligent and $5,000 per intentional violation with no proof of harm required. This guide maps the consent rules, the three things BIPA requires before a voiceprint exists, and a six-step settings, consent, and retention playbook for teams under 50 people.
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.
The New IRS Schedule 1-A: Your Guide to the Four New Deductions for Tips, Overtime, Car Loans, and Seniors
Schedule 1-A is the new IRS form for tax years 2025-2028 holding four below-the-line deductions — up to $25,000 for tips, $12,500/$25,000 for the FLSA overtime premium, $10,000 for new-car loan interest, and $6,000 per person age 65+. Each phases out on its own MAGI threshold, and this guide covers who qualifies, how the math works, and what records defend the claim.
Can You Copyright That AI-Generated Blog Post? What Small Businesses Need to Know About Ownership and Infringement in 2026
U.S. copyright protects only human authorship, so raw AI output is unprotectable and unenforceable. The Copyright Office's January 2025 report found prompts alone do not make you the author — protection attaches only to the parts a reader can see you wrote. Here is what that means for small-business marketing content, plus the disclosure, licensing, and bookkeeping records that prove it.
Circular E in Plain English: What Publication 15 Tells Small Employers About Withholding, Deposits, and Forms 941 and W-2
IRS Publication 15 (Circular E) sets the rules small employers must follow on every paycheck — federal income tax withholding via the wage-bracket or percentage method, 6.2% Social Security to the annual wage base, 1.45% Medicare plus 0.9% above $200,000, EFTPS deposits on a monthly or semiweekly schedule set by the $50,000 lookback test, and Forms 941, 940, W-2 and W-3. This guide translates each rule into what to do, when it is due, and which ledger account to book it in — including the failure-to-deposit penalty ladder of 2%, 5%, 10% and 15%.
FDA Food Traceability Rule (FSMA 204): What the Delay to July 2028 Means for Your Records
The FDA's Food Traceability Rule (FSMA 204) requires covered businesses to produce lot-level records in a sortable electronic spreadsheet within 24 hours and retain them for two years. The compliance date moved from January 20, 2026 to a proposed July 20, 2028 — here is what CTEs, KDEs, and traceability lot codes require, which 15 commodity categories are covered, and how to build the records now.
FinCEN's Residential Real Estate Rule Is Vacated: What All-Cash Closings Still Require in 2026
A federal court in the Eastern District of Texas vacated FinCEN's Residential Real Estate Reporting Rule nationwide on March 19, 2026, one day before it took effect, and FinCEN's May 18, 2026 FAQs confirm no Real Estate Report is required and no retroactive filing will be demanded if the Fifth Circuit reverses. The Geographic Targeting Orders were untouched and still bind title insurers in covered metros, so this guide covers the rule's three-part test (residential, non-financed, entity or trust buyer), the seven-step reporting-person cascade, and the intake, retention, and reinstatement-kit practices closing professionals should keep dormant rather than delete.
USCIS Form I-9 Deadline July 31, 2026: What Every Employer Must Update Before the New Edition Takes Over
Employers using electronic Form I-9 systems must update to the 05/31/2027 expiration date by July 31, 2026. This guide covers which editions stay valid, what changed in the 01/20/25 revision, the three-years-after-hire-or-one-year-after-termination retention rule, and which paperwork errors ICE now treats as substantive rather than technical.