Setting up a business can be both fun and frustrating. Although, with sufficient preparation and legal advice, the procedure will be seamless and problem-free. Many people strive to establish their own company, but performance in the commercial sector is better said than achieved. Companies led by novice individuals who are unfamiliar with the legal standards they need to comply with are especially prone to failure. However, more company owners are rushing into a dynamic environment without conducting adequate homework to protect their legal bases.
Top Seven Legal Considerations When Starting Up
This blog post aims to give you an insight into some of the main steps and legal concerns you need to remember before launching your venture. Here are the top seven legal concerns when you start your own business:
Structure of Your Business
One of the many important decisions you must make when starting a business is to decide on the legal status or structure of your company. Your chosen legal structure will affect how you run your business. It will also have implications on how you pay your taxes and keep your accounts.
The most widely used business legal structures are:
- Sole proprietorship
- Limited Liability Company (LLC)
- Branch Office of a Foreign Company
To decide which status is best for your new business, consider any liability issues that may be associated with your company. Think about which type of tax structure is best suited to your business as well.
Protection of Your Personal and Intellectual Assets
The most critical factor to remember before beginning your own company is how you plan to secure your personal finances. No budding business owner wants to think about failure, but the truth of the matter is that many new companies are struggling to make a profit and collapse. Even those who are successful may find themselves the victim of an unfair lawsuit that eats up time, money and energy.
Intellectual property is one of the key properties that company owners have not covered. Intellectual property may include things like:
- your trademark
- copyright
- your brand
- domain name
- recipes or products you’ve created
Business owners often underestimate the value of their intellectual property, but it can be one of your biggest assets. Other ways to protect yourself include having properly worded terms and conditions. These are especially helpful when it comes to payment terms since any business owner wants to be compensated.
Check All Aspects of Your Business Name
Picking a name is not just about what sounds or looks best, but about what is feasible and, most of all, what is legal. Before picking the name, you want to make sure it is available and not used or trademarked by another corporation. Search the name of a trademark with the UAE Patent & Trademark Office to ensure that you do not infringe the trademark of another person, which could lead to a lawsuit.
There are other important considerations for naming your business, too. If you find out that someone else has already taken the ideal name URL (web address), you may have to purchase the domain name at a premium price, even if it is for rent, which is unlikely to be viable for a new company. So, when you choose a name, it’s advisable to use one that has a domain name available.
Employer Responsibilities
When you plan to have workers, you ought to understand the terms of jobs that you are providing to your employees. There are some universal requirements in the UAE that extend to all workers – such as the minimum salary – and certain rewards that apply in particular to sectors that have a more ‘safety net’ for employees. You should be acquainted with these principles and the duties to guarantee that you work lawfully.
Many business owners put provisions beyond the requirements imposed by regulation and enter into work arrangements with their workers to represent the agreement. It is strongly advisable that you have structured contract arrangements in effect for your workers, not only so that the privileges and responsibilities of each individual are explicitly documented, but also in the case of a conflict with the employee.
Obtaining the Required Licenses
Before you start your business, you would require many forms of licenses or permits. The number of licenses your company would need will rely on the sort of establishment you choose it to be. At the very least, you’ll require a company certificate, a trade license and a sales tax permit.
If you intend to operate a restaurant, cafe or catering business, you may need to apply for dietary regulations and health and safety oversight with the relevant governing body. If you intend to offer entertainment at your business, you may also need to acquire the relevant music and entertainment permits. It is better to do some extra study and contact company training specialists to learn more about the unique permits that you would require to legally manage your firm.
Relevant Health and Safety Laws
As a company owner, you may have to carry on a range of critical health and safety duties. This involves ensuring that the workers operate in a clean, secure atmosphere. You will have a responsibility to maintain the well-being of everyone, including customers and tourists, within, outside and in the proximity of your company premises.
It is strongly recommended that you carry out a risk evaluation to better determine the threats that your company practices pose to individuals. You then ought to eliminate certain threats or dangers as much as possible. This could involve modifying some of the normal operating procedures and replacing some fixtures to ensure that staff and representatives of the public remain protected.
Find a Lawyer
Many people believe they should shape a business on their own, and they can, but these people also do not realize the consequences of taking decisions in one direction or another. That’s why one of the strongest bits of advice to launch a company is to employ a lawyer. There are several explanations. Any company wants a qualified lawyer to call when things eventually go wrong. It’s just a matter of time in this day and age before you’re grappling with a complaint, and when the subpoenas hit, you’re going to want to focus on good legal knowledge. Take a good look at the lawyers in your region and don’t be afraid to ask them why they’re the right option for your firm.
Invest a lot of time, resources and capital to find the best legal experts to help protect your firm, and your new company will be up and running in no time. It is best that you do the correct thing for the first time and employ a lawyer because it’s important to provide proper legal security for your startup.
We Are Here for You
Setting up a company may be a challenging task. Make sure you’re concentrating on what you do best, which is the business. Let the experts adhere to the rules, please. But make sure you don’t forget the value of building up your business right from the start. It’s going to pay dividends down the line. Knowing which regulations apply to your new enterprise is often relevant if you plan to start a company abroad. If you plan to grow internationally, make it a necessity to consult a trusted consulting firm, such as Riz and Mona Consultancy, to direct you on every legal phase of the path.
