Industry Night, tax wins, and what’s moving in Indiana

April Operator Notes

Hi everyone,

March delivered a lot of movement — state tax wins, federal regulatory shifts, new SBA tools, and some real warning signs for Midwest manufacturers. We’ve pulled the most actionable updates below. And if you haven’t registered for Industry Night on April‌ 23rd yet, details are inside.

Small rooms. Real operators. Practical conversations.

Most OWN Indiana events are built for owners and operators only. Industry Night is different. This is where we open the room — business owners, operators, acquisition entrepreneurs, CPAs, attorneys, lenders, brokers, fractional CFOs, and consultants. If you own a business or work with people who do, you’re invited.

3:‌00‌ PM – 4:‌00‌ PM | Know Your Numbers with Colin King Colin King, CPA, CFA and President of Profit Mastery, will walk through how to actually read and use your financial statements. Cash flow, pricing, profitability, the numbers you should track every month, and how to catch problems before they become crises. Colin runs a portfolio of businesses through Circle City Capital Group representing over $25M in revenue. This isn’t theory.

4:‌00‌ PM – 7:‌00‌ PM | Open Networking VFW Carmel has a great patio bar. Three hours. No agenda. Just good conversations.

📍 VFW Post 10003 | Carmel, IN 📅 Thursday, April‌ 23rd | 3:‌00‌ PM

Full event details, speaker bio, and more info on the Eventbrite page.

If you know someone who should be in the room, forward this their way.

See you on the 23rd.

We had a table at the sold-out Butler University ETA Conference in March — over 360 attendees, 40 speakers, and clear momentum around business acquisition as an economic succession strategy in Indiana. Governor Braun explicitly endorsed the ETA model as a tool for keeping locally-owned businesses under local control. That’s a meaningful signal for anyone thinking about buying or eventually selling.

If you came from the conference and want to stay connected to the year-round operator community, you’re in the right place.

Thinking about acquiring a business? Hit reply — we’d love to connect you with operators who’ve been through it. That’s exactly the room we’re building at OWN Indiana.

March and early April brought federal tax changes, state legislative wins, and new SBA structures that directly affect your bottom line. Here’s what matters most.

100% Bonus Depreciation Is Permanent. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act made full bonus depreciation permanent for qualifying property acquired after January‌ 19, 2025. Machinery, equipment, vehicles, computers, and even used property qualify. Section 179 expensing also jumped to $2.56 million.

What to do: Review all 2026 equipment purchases with your CPA. Consider pulling Q3/Q4 buys into Q2 to capture the full deduction sooner.

Pass-Through Deduction Up to 23%. The QBI deduction for S-Corps and LLCs increased from 20% to 23% starting in 2026, with a new $400 minimum. Every Indiana pass-through entity sees an immediate cash flow improvement.

Indiana SB 243: Tips and Overtime Now Tax-Exempt. Indiana conformed to federal law, creating a one-year state income tax exemption on tips, overtime, and domestic vehicle loan interest. Saves taxpayers an estimated $250M — but requires immediate payroll system updates to delineate exempt income correctly.

What to do: Operators in manufacturing, logistics, and hospitality need to update payroll and accounting systems now. This is not optional.

Indiana Tax Amnesty Window Opens July‌ 15. The DOR is running an amnesty program July‌ 15 – September‌ 15, 2026 for unpaid state tax liabilities with periods ending before January‌ 1, 2023. No interest, no penalties, no civil prosecution.

What to do: Audit your state tax accounts. If you acquired a business with inherited liabilities, this is your window to clean the balance sheet. Calendar July‌ 15.

BOI Reporting Dead for Domestic Entities. FinCEN formally exempted all U.S.-created entities from beneficial ownership reporting. If you were prepping for this, you can stand it down. The requirement now applies only to foreign entities registered in the U.S.

SBA 504 Rates at 5.72% (5.48% for Manufacturers). March pricing locked in 5.72% fixed for 25 years on commercial real estate and heavy equipment. Manufacturers get an additional fee waiver bringing it to 5.48%. Sub-6% fixed debt for a quarter century changes the math on asset-heavy deals.

SBA 7(a) Now Accepts SOFR and Treasury Base Rates. As of March‌ 1, lenders can use SOFR (~3.67%), 5-year or 10-year Treasury rates as alternatives to the Wall Street Journal Prime rate (6.75%). More flexibility to negotiate better structures on acquisition debt — ask your lender before the next term sheet.

New SBA Citizenship Rules for 7(a) and 504. All direct and indirect owners and required guarantors must be U.S. citizens with principal U.S. residence. Effective March‌ 1. If SBA debt is in your capital stack, confirm eligibility before signing an LOI.

The Buyer/Seller Gap Is Still Wide. Nearly 90% of active lower-middle-market searchers are self-funded, and 61% haven’t closed their first deal. Valuation expectations from sellers are still anchored to the zero-rate era. If you’re a buyer, plan for seller financing and earn-outs. If you’re a seller, understand the pool is larger and more competitive than it’s been — but buyers need the numbers to work.

Midwest Manufacturing Is Contracting. The Chicago PMI dropped 12.3 points to 45.4 in March — well below the neutral 50.0 threshold. The culprit: pre-tariff inventory hoarding exhausted demand, and new orders have evaporated. If you’re in manufacturing, halt speculative inventory builds and shift to cash preservation mode now.

AI Phishing Is Now Indistinguishable. Perfectly written, context-aware phishing emails are real and happening. The “bad grammar” filter no longer works.

What to do: Implement one rule now — any request to change money, banking info, credentials, or vendor details requires a phone call to a known number. Not a reply email. Not a text. A phone call. Train your team this month.

Cybersecurity: The Threat Has Shifted. Ransomware gangs have moved from system lockouts to data extortion — stealing sensitive data and threatening to release it publicly. Small businesses under 25 employees are the most targeted demographic. Vendor risk management, mandatory MFA, and offline backups are now baseline requirements, not optional.

Pricing Strategically, Not Reactively. 75% of SMBs report costs higher than last year; nearly half plan price increases. The operators holding customers through those hikes are doing three things: tiered loyalty programs with real rewards, CRM-driven personalization for high-value accounts, and front-line staff with authority to resolve issues on the spot without manager approval.

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