The Bolsa Bridge archive
Find a story
Type what you want to know — Vietnamese or English both work.
All stories in Small Business — newest first.
- Small Business
Buying a nail salon or a restaurant? Five documents to hold before any money changes hands — miss one, and the seller's debts can become yours
A business sale is the biggest transaction on Vietnamese-language classifieds and Facebook groups, and the easiest place for a buyer to lose everything over one missing signature. California law spells out what a buyer must do to avoid inheriting the seller's debts, and the state's tax agency publishes the how-to in Vietnamese.
- Small Business
Filed an Extension? Your October 15 Deadline Does Not Extend the Time to Pay
People who requested an extension for their 2025 individual tax return have until October 15, 2026, to file federal and California returns. The IRS and California FTB both say an extension gives more time to file paperwork, not more time to pay tax that is still due.
- Small Business
Does your shop have one to four employees? The CalSavers deadline passed on December 31, 2025 — here's how to avoid the $250-then-$750-per-worker penalty
According to CalSavers' August 31, 2026 report, more than half of California employers with one to four workers still haven't registered or claimed an exemption, eight months past the December 31, 2025 deadline. In earlier rounds, the Franchise Tax Board's penalty letters arrived about ten months after the deadline — which makes this fall the time for Bolsa's nail salons and phở shops to log in. It takes an afternoon.
- Small Business
Do you earn tips at a nail salon or restaurant? The federal government now exempts up to $25,000 a year — but your W-2 has to be right, and California still taxes it
Starting with tax year 2026, employers must report total tips, an occupation code and federally qualified overtime in three new spots on the W-2. The form you receive by February 1, 2027 decides how much you can deduct — which makes this fall the moment for owners and workers around Bolsa to check how tips are being recorded.
- Small Business
Your shop's phone is ringing and every hand is busy? AI can answer — if you know the law and its limits
"AI phone answering" services are pitching hard to restaurants, nail salons, and small offices, at a few dozen to a few hundred dollars a month. Before your shop hands its customers' calls to a machine: where it beats a human and where it doesn't, what California law demands, and six questions to ask before you sign.