Your primary focus, when you’re running a company, is to ensure that you’re doing everything you can to push your business in the right direction. You want your customers to be happy, you want to see your ideas in practice, and so on. However, it’s always important to remember that you don’t have free licence to do as you please when it comes to your company. There are many rules and regulations that businesses need to follow; they’re there to help keep everything under control and working. While few companies knowingly skirt around their legal obligations, many do so without realising it. Below, we take a look at five common ways businesses break the law. Make sure your company isn’t guilty of any of the below.
Incorrect Data Storage
The thing about the law is that it doesn’t stay still for very long. As society progresses, so does the law. That means that something that was legal just a few years ago could be illegal today. Take more or less everything related to personal data, for instance. No-one was thinking about it ten years ago, but after some high-profile data breaches and shady practices, the law has caught up. Whether you’re running an online or “real world” business, you’ll want to ensure that you’re only keeping the data that you’re allowed to keep, and that you’re storing it securely, too.
Online Media
Your aim is to have the best website possible, but you can’t have everything your own way. You may have found the perfect video or photograph for your site, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have the right to use it. There are some websites that have gotten into serious trouble because they’ve hosted copyrighted materials. Normally it’s just a warning and the removal of the infringing materials, but sometimes damages have to be paid.
Paying the Proper Tax
While you’d like to keep all of your profits for yourself, the fact is that this is the real world, and that means that you need to pay your share of tax. However, knowing how much to pay, or how to do it, isn’t always straightforward. People often end up asking, ‘how much corporate tax do I have to pay?,’ or, ‘do I need to register for gst?’ Because these matters are so important, it’s usually best that you have an outside expert to work with you. There can be severe penalties for paying the wrong amount, and companies don’t always recover
Employee Matters
If you have employees, then you’ll need to ensure that you’re keeping things legal with them. This begins by classifying them correctly, and then making sure that you’re providing the correct working set up.
Not Staying Up To Date With Changes
Finally, remember that it’s important to stay up to date with any legal changes. If you’ve got a lot on your plate, then you can look at hiring a lawyer. As we said at the beginning of the article, the law is always adapting as the world moves forward.
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