Starting up? influence legal can assist you. Here is a checklist of some key areas to consider with some useful links:

  • Insurance – Before you start, ensure you have adequate insurance in place to cover key liability including public, products, professional indemnity and mandatory workers compensation.
  • Business name – Register your business name before you begin to trade. However, registering a business name does not give you any intellectual property rights in the name.  For that, you need a trade mark – see below.  Make sure your business name will not infringe someone else’s trade mark.  We can conduct fixed fee trade mark searches for you.
  • Domain names – Consider registering your business name and variations, as permitted under domain name registrar rules.  As for business names, registering a domain name does not give you any intellectual property rights, and you need to check that you do not infringe another trade mark.
  • Structure – Sole trader, partnership, trust or company? Here is a useful link.
  • Company – If you decide on a company, remember to check the personal services income rules.  We offer fixed fee company registration and company secretarial support. We also offer a local director and company secretary service.
  • ABN – Apply for an ABN once you’ve determined that this will be a business not a hobby and have met the requirements for an ABN.
  • GST – Decide whether you need to register for GST and check the turnover threshold.  If you do not register for GST, you are not entitled to charge a GST component and your invoices need to reflect this. Here is a useful link.
  • Finance – How will you fund the initial business expenses, such as regulatory expenses, insurance, equipment and supplies?  Ensure that you have a business plan in place that covers issues including finance, and tax and accounting input.
  • Records – Set up your systems for accurate records for tax and compliance.
  • Privacy – Check the thresholds for whether you need a privacy policy and implement your privacy compliance systems.
  • Employees & consultants – Ensure that you have agreements in place (including protection for your IP and confidential information) and appropriate tax and accounting input, as well as workers compensation insurance.
  • Trade marks – Only a trade mark registration will protect your brand name. You should apply at the beginning of the process, not after you have already invested years of marketing into a name that turns out to belong to someone else! We can assist you with trade mark applications at reasonable rates, including fixed fees for key steps.

Contact us if you would like to discuss any of these steps.