Even if your business is still small, at some point you cannot escape having a number of things to arrange properly as an entrepreneur or self-employed person. In this article, together with accountant Marcel Huting and lawyer Renate Verstraaten, we share legal tips for entrepreneurs with ambition. Because even if you have a sole proprietorship, it is important to take a look at these.
This is what you want to get right with your sole proprietorship
In cooperation with Huting Tax Advice & Administration
Whether you sell (digital) products or are in the service business, at some point you cannot escape - like any entrepreneur - from getting some legal matters right. Renate Verstraaten of You and Me Legal has thegreenlist.nl helped with this important next step. Renate: ‘Making good agreements and guidelines is not tiresome or too formal. It is super important and in the interest of all parties that expectations, rights and obligations are well down on paper. It actually helps to avoid misunderstandings. Marcel: ‘Completely agree and what's more: in some cases, you are even legally obliged to do so and thus also avoid a fine from the Tax Office or the Personal Data Authority.’
Legal tips for start-ups
What legal tips and documents should you think of? Renate: ‘Clear practices on how to handle personal data and general terms and conditions for the collaborations you have with parties.’ We take you through it all in this article. Renate: ‘What you want to lay down depends on your personal situation, what is important to you and what your biggest risks are. Therefore, just cutting and pasting from your colleague's documents is not wise at all. Indeed, it is not allowed either. It is not even allowed by law.’
Privacy statement
If you have your own website (big chance if you are an entrepreneur), you are required to prepare a privacy notice and share it on your website. That's because you process personal data of website visitors. Renate: ‘In your privacy statement, you explain what personal data you collect and what you do with it. Your policy, i.e. what you do with that data in the course of your work, must be consistent with the statement on your website.’ Fortunately, the Personal Data Authority you with that too. On the website, for example, there is also a list of information to be included in the privacy statement. Very handy!
Renate Verstraaten, lawyer.
Renate: ‘Many entrepreneurs think that by having a privacy statement they can safe sit. That they thereby comply with all privacy rules. That is not the case. There is more to it! Every entrepreneur is obliged to ensure privacy of cooperation partners. Think of data of your customers, suppliers, employees, job applicants or other cooperation partners. The main rules for handling personal data in the Netherlands are laid down in the General Data Protection Regulation (AVG).’ Marcel: ‘Those rules apply to all entrepreneurs and therefore also to sole traders and their one-man businesses. That can sometimes be quite tricky.’ If you want to know exactly what you need to do to comply with the AVG, check the website authoritypersonaldata.nl.
General terms and conditions
General terms and conditions are not mandatory, but they can be very useful when working with other parties. I have for thegreenlist.nl also had general terms and conditions drawn up for the collaborations I have with sustainable companies. Renate drafted this document for me. Renate: ‘In the general terms and conditions, you set out rules that apply to a collaboration with you. You lay down things like payment terms, notice periods, but in the case of thegreenlist.nl I also included rules about correction rounds (what is and is not included in the price) and how to deal with each other if a collaboration is suddenly cancelled, even though you have already put time into it and you may have already shot or written content.’
Note: if you have general terms and conditions, it is important that prior to any collaboration, you point out to your client that these terms and conditions apply. Want to know more about this? On the website entrepreneur square.kvk.nl find useful information.
Disclaimer
A disclaimer on your website is not mandatory and also has little legal value. And yet, in the context of transparency, it can be good to draw one up. Renate: ‘In your disclaimer, you inform visitors to your website about the use of your site. For example, it is a good place to inform your readers about the content of the website. You can mention that all texts and photos are subject to copyright and that the content may therefore not be (re)used without permission. You can tell more about the content of the website: how up-to-date is it, are you an official body or was the website created based on personal experience? And how can readers tell the difference between editorial content and advertisements. A disclaimer can be a nice addition to your privacy statement and general terms and conditions, but it is not an agreement and you cannot stipulate anything here about liability.’
Engagement agreement (URA)
With thegreenlist.nl at some point I was going to team up with people, think editors, photographers, a website builder and a designer. So I asked Renate to draw up an agreement of assignment (OVO) for the freelancers working for thegreenlist.nl work. Renate: ‘This is nice for both parties: all the important agreements about the cooperation, such as the description of the work, the fee, the duration of the project and liability are laid down once in this agreement, which is signed by both parties. You can also lay down company-specific matters in it. For instance, in the case of thegreenlist.nl also included the transfer of copyright. You can read more about copyright and portrait rights here. For you as a client, it is additionally nice that you cover a number of issues, namely that you are not an employer and therefore there is no employment relationship with terms of employment to fall back on.
Marcel: ‘This agreement with freelancers is really important to get right. If the Tax Office classifies your agreement as an employment contract, you will have to pay social security contributions afterwards on the hours worked by the freelancers in your team. That's a risk you don't want to take! Renate: ‘So you can easily cover that risk in a commission contract. The Belastingdienst itself also offers many model agreements for this, which have already been tested.’
Shipping and returns policy
Do you have a webshop and supply to consumers? Then you need to know this! If someone buys something from you, your customer has fourteen days to change his or her mind. This means that he or she may return the purchased product and you will refund the money, regardless of the reason. As a merchant, you are obliged to make sure your customers know they have this right and that they know how you proceed after placing an order. All information about the purchase and return process should be listed on your website, on a dedicated page that is easy for your customers to find. If a customer returns something within the return period, as a shop owner you are obliged to refund the full purchase amount, including any shipping costs. As a shop owner, you must also bear the return costs, unless you have specified in the shipping and return policy that this is the buyer's responsibility. Want to know more about what should be in the shipping and return policy. About shipping and returns, we dedicated a separate article with Renate!
Legal tips for entrepreneurs
Do you have accounting questions as a result of these legal tips or would you like to have these documents prepared for Renate or another lawyer? Marcel Huting's team is ready and happy to help you!
Need more tips and help?
Maybe you have been doing business for a while, or maybe your initiative is still in its infancy. Either way, with the guide for starting entrepreneurs, we would like to help you on your way with the administrative side, so you can do what you do best: make your idea a success! Because say it yourself, it's a nice idea when the administrative basics are all in order. With the help of this guide, you will have everything you need to organise your company's bookkeeping properly, learn good habits and, as a bonus, we will also share with you how you can do business a little more consciously. We got you!
For 13.50 euros, you have this lifesaver directly to your inbox and so on your tablet or mobile phone! Order the guide for start-ups in our webshop!
About Marcel Huting
Marcel does administration and bookkeeping for a variety of companies and individuals throughout the Netherlands. He can help you get started or take over the entire bookkeeping process from you. Find out more about Huting Tax Advice & Administration.
Photo credits main image: Anna Nekrashevich (Pexels).
