Best Legal Services for Small Businesses

Everyone knows that setting up and running a small business is a lot of hard work. Especially since you need to comply with all the rules and regulations. This means dealing with taxes, protecting intellectual property, ensuring workers have the right contracts, and more. All the while, you have to deal with the joys of bureaucracy, red tape, and a big pile of paperwork.

Of course, not doing everything correctly may result in penalties, fines, and lawsuits. These could have a huge impact on your business. Indeed, 36% to 53% of small businesses are sued every year with resolutions costing anywhere from $3,000 to $150,000. However, using the right legal services and software will significantly reduce that risk and help your business grow.

Most Common Legal Issues for Small Businesses

Of course, there are a lot of legal problems that small businesses face, but there are a few issues that happen more frequently. Some new companies even make mistakes from the beginning by using the wrong business entity, which means your business could end up paying the wrong tax. For example, in an S-Corp business taxes are paid by the business owner and not the company itself. Meanwhile, if your business is a sole-proprietorship it increases your personal liability, which is why companies often choose an LLC structure instead.

Then there’s the day-to-day running of your business, and many companies struggle with employee management. Small businesses generally don’t have HR departments, so staying legal while hiring and firing employees is difficult. For instance, when employees are misclassified, this can result in payroll issues and impact a worker’s compensation and benefits. When it comes to dismissing employees, there’s a lot to consider too, such as anti-discrimination laws, immigration status, and contract violations. Any of these can come back to bite you in the future.

Recommended Legal Services

There are plenty of online services that offer small businesses help to stay within legal parameters, each with its own specialties. Here we recommended some of the best solutions for small businesses on the market.

Tax Calculation and Filing: TurboTax

Keeping up to date with all the latest tax rules and regulations isn’t easy and for small businesses, it isn’t always possible to hire a tax expert to do everything for you. So, it’s likely that you’ll have to do your business’s taxes yourself – all while avoiding potential penalties and fines. That’s where tax software comes in. Tax software makes the entire filing process seamless, giving you the ability to cut through all the complications and easily file your business’s tax returns without making any expensive mistakes.One of the most well-known tax solutions is TurboTax. The software has subscriptions aimed at small businesses to help you with industry-specific deductions and give you an audit assessment, so you stay on the right side of the IRS. Not only that, but TurboTax has thousands of tax experts who will give you advice to guide you through the whole process. And you don’t need to worry about the safety of your business’s financial data, since TurboTax protects your accounts with two-factor authentication. Read our TurboTax review.

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Business Formation: BetterLegal

Starting a new business is exciting but, at the same time, it can be a tedious and tiresome process. Filing all the required paperwork, making sure you’re compliant with state law, and getting all the potential tax benefits are dull yet necessary steps. Additionally, if you consider the number of new companies that fail within their first years, this procedure becomes even more daunting. Thankfully, business formation services exist to help owners and entrepreneurs by facilitating the whole process, giving you peace of mind and letting you focus on the bigger picture.

BetterLegal has been the guardian angel of hundreds of businesses since 2017. The company excels in key areas, such as offering one of the fastest turnaround times on the market – two business days on average – and having barely any upsells and advertisements. On a similar note, pricing plans are straightforward and only provide customers with the services they need. Moreover, BetterLegal’s trustworthy registered agent services do practically all the tedious work for you. Whether you want to form an LLC or a standard corporation, the company provides qualified guidance throughout your journey. Read our BetterLegal review.

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Business Maintenance: MyCorporation

Your business is up and running, but now you face another big challenge: making sure your company grows and stays in good shape over the upcoming years. There are many aspects to take care of when running a business, from the additional necessary filings and license compliance to finances or even copyright protection. MyCorporation handles all these responsibilities for you, taking some of the weight off your shoulders and letting you focus on other important matters.

On top of incorporation services, the California-based company also offers a broad set of maintenance features, with one of its highlights being a unique package called MaintainMyBiz – a handy service that grants owners four optional filings every year, which include annual reports and DBA registrations. In addition to the standard registered agent service, users can enjoy a business compliance package to stay compliant with regulators and state laws. But that’s not all, as you can also incorporate a payroll management service – a must-have for any business with a growing number of employees. All in all, MyCorporation’s team of experts will act as your right-hand man, guiding your business on its journey to the top. Read our MyCorporation review.

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Legal Documents Online Library: US Legal Forms

Businesses handle countless legal documents on a daily basis. Fortunately, US Legal Forms has a resource for every eventuality in its vast library of 135,000 documents. From papers for founding and maintaining an LLC to employment contracts and shareholders agreements, the sky’s the limit with this comprehensive database. All these documents are state-specific and legally binding, and they come in packages to provide easy access to anything you may need. Even your own custom forms can be uploaded and notarized, making them legally sound. With a premium subscription, users gain access to completion services for powers of attorney, which is perfect for occasions when quick legal aid is needed. Price plans start at $15 a month, and users can browse resources without risk for a month with the company’s generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Read our US Legal Forms review.

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Legal Documents To Start and Run Your Business

While it’s not the most glamorous part of running a business, paperwork is unavoidable and it’s important to have everything in order. Firstly, you need a business plan, and while this isn’t a legal requirement, it’s necessary to have a plan showcasing your road map to success in order to secure financing.

When it comes to your employees you must make sure you have the right documents. Contracts are especially important, and you need to carefully consider what to include in them, like benefits, time off, confidentiality clauses, noncompete clauses, probationary periods, non-disclosure agreements, and more. Also, you need to consider having an employee handbook, allowing you to set expectations and help new employees succeed in your company. In the handbook, you can lay out your company policies, terms of employment, and code of conduct.

When you’re dealing with customers, you need to remember to lay out your terms and conditions. These terms allow you to have a mutual understanding with your customers as well as avoiding any misunderstandings. Similarly, you need to have a privacy policy to ensure that you will guard your customers’ personally identifiable information. This should outline how you will protect names, addresses, IP addresses, phone numbers, and any other kind of data. There are also rules as to where your privacy policy is posted, so you can’t have it tucked away on your website.

Legal Tips for Small Business Owners

Juggling everything is difficult, but there are a few things you always need to focus on. One of the most important of those is your employment obligations as you must ensure your workers are safe and follow labor laws.

Every business should always protect its intellectual property. That certainly true for small businesses for many it counts a large part of its corporate value – counting up to 70% for some. And since your product is what makes your business unique, it needs to be protected. Intellectual property covers copyrighting exclusive content, registering trademarks (including designs, symbols, and phrases), patenting inventions, and more. But you have to remain vigilant and consider that you may have to send takedown notices, cease and desist letters, or even sue copyright infringers at any moment.

You need to pay attention to your records too, especially when it comes to your stock levels and the IRS. Online accounting software gives you the ability to track everything in your inventory and is certainly far easier than relying on manual record keeping. Similarly, using tax software to ensure that your business’s returns are done perfectly will save you a headache and help you avoid any potential penalties.

Additional Advice for Small Business Owners

Legality is just one of a large number of factors small business owners have to consider. One of the other big challenges is staying on top of your company’s finances. Fortunately, there is financial software available to help you keep track of your spending and avoid necessary losses. But you also need to rely on your employees to help take your business to the next level, so you can invest in productivity software that will help them perform to their very best.