Setting up a new business will inevitably involve a minefield of legal considerations. There are so many different rules and regulations set by the government that you need to wade through before you can start trading. One of the worst industries for this is retail. If you’re looking into setting up your own retail business, you won’t be legally allowed to start selling your products into you’ve made sure that you’re compliant with all of the business regulations out there. Before you open your doors, make sure that you check these things.
EMV Compliance
Government legislation has strict rules about the kind of payment hardware that you can use in your store. This is designed to protect your customers against potential fraud committed using card readers that aren’t regulation. The laws are changing so any fraud carried out in a store that doesn’t have an emv compliant card reader is now the fault of that store, rather than the card issuer or the bank itself. That means you’ll be liable to pay back any money that has been lost. Upgrading your card readers is not a big expense so it’s worth doing because it can save you a whole lot of trouble in the long run. However, it isn’t as scary as it sounds. A lot of your customers won’t have a new EMV compliant card so any fraud involving these cards will still be dealt with by the bank.
Taxes
When you’re setting up your new business you’ll need to look into the amount of corporate tax that you need to pay. Not paying your taxes will get you into serious trouble so don’t bother trying to find a way around it. Everybody knows about the corporate tax they need to pay but people often overlook the state sales taxes that they are liable for. These vary from state to state so do your research before you start your new business. If you are unsure, it might be better to use a professional to deal with your taxes.
Labor Laws
America has some of the strictest labor laws in the world so make sure that you’re doing right by your employees in a legal sense. Everything from the wages you have to pay, the hours they can work and the number of breaks that they are eligible for are all written into law. If you break any of these regulations, your company could end up in the middle of a costly and time-consuming lawsuit.
Consumer Protection Laws
As well as protecting your employees, you have a legal obligation to protect your customers as well. Warranties are one of the main areas that are written into law. Consumers have a right to have their products replaced or refunded if there is a problem with them. If the warranty is up, you have a right to refuse this, but otherwise, you don’t. If you try to refuse them anyway, they have grounds to sue you which is going to be a lot more damaging than refunding a few products.
You might think that cutting corners will save you time and money but the reality is, it will end up causing you no end of trouble and could spell the end of your business completely.
