Legal Advice Rochdale
Legal advice is often hard to come by at an affordable price. The following articles will help you answer any legal questions you may have regarding a small business.
However, you have to be careful. If you commence trading before the limited company is formed you will have to transfer the assets and liabilities across to the limited company after its formation. This is not difficult provided you keep good records of income and expenses and assets and liabilities. Read more.
If you have been informed that you are sending material to someone who has died, correct your database immediately. If you don't and someone complains because they are continuing to receive correspondence and you have caused them distress, this could be viewed as a breach of the Act.
You must notify HMRC of the date the company will cease trading. You will also have to notify them that a new sole trader business is taking over the limited company's business together with details of the new business.
If you are a sole trader, you are liable for all the money your business owes (your liability is unlimited). Your own personal assets, such as your house, furniture and car, can be seized to pay your business debts; in the final breakdown, you can be made bankrupt.
Professional indemnity insurance could protect your business from financially crippling and often reputation-damaging claims by dissatisfied clients. In this world of frequent deadlines and added pressure, even the most respectable companies can find themselves in dispute with a client over a mistake.
Many companies don’t want to buy freehold premises, preferring to take a lease for a set number of years or ‘term’. Reasons vary. SmallBusiness.co.uk and Nicola Heaney of Sherrards Solicitors explains what to look out for when taking leasehold premises.
It's the kind of insurance that protects your business from financially crippling and often reputation-damaging claims by dissatisfied clients. Even the most respectable companies can find themselves in dispute with a client over a mistake.
A trade mark is a "Badge of Origin" by which the public can distinguish the products and services of one business from those of another. It can be a word (including a personal name), letters, numerals, a logo, a slogan, or a combination of these features. It can also consist of a three-dimensional shape or a sound.
There is no direct legislation that says vacancies (of whatever level) must be advertised (except in N Ireland where the provisions of the Fair Employment Act 1976 may apply).
Here are some legal advice on tax and record keeping. If you want to run your business smoothly and legally, this article should not missed by you. Keep on reading for details.
The contract of employment may be so much more than the statement – by definition "main particulars" must mean that some are not included. Indeed the ERA 1996 defines what those main areas are.
A national default retirement age of 65 will be introduced, making compulsory retirement below the age of 65 unlawful, unless objectively justified. All employees will have the right to request to work beyond the age of 65 or any other retirement age set by the company and all employers will have to give due consideration to these requests from employees.
The Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR) set out the minimum amount of paid leave to which an employer or worker is entitled. The Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA) sets out the amount of pay for that amount of holiday. In neither act did the Government get around to saying when the holiday pay should be paid. For that we have to rely on case law.
Automatic late filing penalties (under S93(2) and (4) Taxes Management Act 1970), cannot exceed the tax liability for the year. So in cases in which the tax due is less than £100 (or £200 as appropriate), the SA computer system will automatically reduce (cap) the penalty to the amount shown in Box 18.3 of the Return.
Business owners have to be extremely careful not to discriminate on grounds of age, disability, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation and many, many more. With a seemingly never-ending stream of legislation, failure to attend to discrimination issues can have dire consequences. It is down to the person who feels they are being discriminated against – if they feel intimidated or disrupted by a colleague’s words or actions – it is not about intention.
Below are the ten most common mistakes Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs has experienced on tax returns. Causing them to correct or reject forms.
If your employment contracts list bank holidays as being an entitlement then part-timers are entitled to pay for those days. If the contract is silent in this respect and that bank holiday is a day they would not normally have worked they are not entitled to pay for it. A simple guide to start you in the right direction, if you close the doors on a day that they would otherwise have worked – you pay them.
In a bankruptcy situation however the trustee in bankruptcy effectively stands in the place of the bankrupt. The Trustee in Bankruptcy is entitled to any information that the bankrupt would have been. This means that the Trustee in Bankruptcy can request access to information.
Bankrupts will normally get their discharge automatically, even if no payments have been made to their creditors, they are still making contributions under an income payments order/agreement or some of their assets have not yet been sold.
For most entrepreneurs, considering cover for employers’ liability compulsory insurance (ELCI) will be as attractive a proposition as authorising payment to an auditor. However, if you fail to comply with the law, you risk a fine of £2,500 per day.
It is a fact that HM Revenue and Customs have slightly different rules to the Employment Tribunal as to what precisely marks out the differences between the three types of relationships.
HM Revenue and Customs will not allow a company to be struck off if up to date accounts have not been submitted. So being struck off is not an alternative to paying corporation tax. The directors may also be personally liable if the accounts are not submitted to HMRC. For more on winding up the company for corporation tax purposes see below B.
In any event, you have a good chance of claiming compensation for the loss of hours (even without working them), as this was the number of hours you would have worked and been paid for during the contractual notice period.
You must notify HMRC of the date the company will cease trading. You will also have to notify them that a new sole trader business is taking over the limited company's business together with details of the new business.
I invoiced a client three months ago and have been chasing payment since. I’m not getting anywhere, so what should I do? Phone the client to see if there is a reason for non-payment. This could include having wrong bank details for you or a query on the amount. You may be able to resolve this on the phone and agree payment.
Are there any regulations against commercial practices? The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 imposes a general ban on unfair commercial practices. Unfair commercial practices are broadly any that fail to meet the honest practices and good faith that can be expected of traders in your field.
The Companies Act was finally given Royal Assent to become law on 8 November 2006. It consists of a mammoth 1,300 sections and at 760 pages it is the most substantial Act of Parliament to date relating to company law.
What should I do if a customer complains about our product? Perhaps you could adopt a money-back guarantee or some sort of guarantee of customer satisfaction. Most businesses are happy to offer these guarantees, because the number of complaints or people who ask for refunds is usually tiny, but it encourages more people to buy from you in the first place.
If you are going to submit your tax return close to the deadline, filing it in on the internet does ensure timely delivery – as long as the HM Revenue & Customs website can cope better than last year with the volume submitted!
A recent research paper from The University of Warwick found small businesses are more likely to experience employee claims than large companies and more likely to lose if the case reach the tribunal stage. Following a few simple precautions will help reduce the likelihood of problems.
For the majority of small businesses, public liability insurance is the most important type of cover. It protects a business by covering the cost of a claim if an accident happens with a member of the public, resulting in injury or damage to them or their property.
The manner of dealing with complaints/grievances will be defined in your equal opportunities policy. The individual raising the issue must be assured that it will be treated seriously and expeditiously consistent with a proper investigation. It might also be appropriate to ask the individual what they would like to happen as a result of the complaint.
It's worth knowing where you stand legally especially if you have an effective shareholders' agreement and service contracts. These documents should give you guidance if there has been a fundamental breakdown in your relationship.
If you find yourself in the unfortunate circumstance of having to discipline a member of staff, you have to ensure the process is fair, especially if the result is that they are dismissed. Read on for some in depth information.
Not surprisingly, the UK is currently experiencing a higher-than-usual level of flood-related insurance claims . A recent study indicated that the majority of businesses that suffered a major insurance claim, where production fell by more than 80 per cent, failed after a year, regardless of how good their insurance cover was.
A claim for wrongful dismissal is either because he does not have sufficient length of service to bring an unfair dismissal claim or he believes he would achieve a higher award for breach of contract than he would for unfair dismissal, or a claim for both would generate more.
If there are changes to your partnership your rights and liabilities may change. The amount of partnership capital may change and so may your share of profits. It is important to understand what happens to your partnership when changes occur.
Any employee can decide to retire at any time- the issue is whether there is any money in it for you. Your question appears to indicate, from the way it is worded, that there may be some sort of ill health early retirement provision in a company pension scheme.
As her employer, you have to find a solution that is practical for your business otherwise you won’t have one! However, you need to balance this interest with that of the employee’s right to work safely and her need to earn a living.
The TUPE regulations will govern this situation because when a business is purchased as a going concern, all employees will automatically have a right to transfer with the business and continue working in their jobs for the foreseeable future. Simply dismissing them would be 'unfair' and potentially lead to tribunal claims.
The law forbids discriminating against someone on the grounds of their race as well as colour, ethnic or national origin, religion, religious belief/political opinion (N. Ireland only), sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender re-assignment or disability. Also included in the list is any discrimination in circumstances of pregnancy, maternity, paternity, adoption or parental status.
Clearly if someone has signed such an-opt out the number of overtime hours, voluntary or not, is irrelevant. Most employers insert into contracts clauses regarding overtime. If they state overtime is mandatory and guaranteed then overtime is working time. If overtime is mandatory but not guaranteed then it is working time.
With specific regard to notes of disciplinary/grievance hearings it would be prudent to keep all original documents for at least six months after the employment has terminated and probably no longer than a year.
If you are providing your employees with paid time off you would expect them to behave in an honest and responsible manner whether or not that paid leave was a statutory entitlement or just because you are a good boss.
Customers not paying on time can be fatal for a small business so use these tips to successfully chase those reluctant to pay up. If the customer is always out or in a meeting when you telephone, and you suspect this is due to a desire not to speak to you, try pretending to be someone else who you are sure your customer will want to speak to. If you deal with an accountant or bookkeeper, try speaking to the managing director of the customer’s business.