We are about to share 5 key legal tips for setting up and running a VA Business. Virtual assistants and VA businesses are becoming increasingly popular. In order to operate successfully, they need to meet specific legal requirements.
This blog covers 5 key legal issues to consider when setting up your virtual assistant business.
Choose The Right Formation
Choosing the right formation for your VA business is necessary to ensure business growth and success. Your business legal structure will determine how you run your business. From taxes and management to compliance and paperwork requirements. And when trying to decide which structure will work best for your business it’s best to speak to your accountant. Get the correct advice for your specific circumstances in relation to which is the most tax-efficient option.
Your options as a VA business are either limited company or a sole trader. From a legal perspective, think about the limited liability advantages of a limited company. But with that comes additional compliance in relation to the Companies Act 2006 and the additional filing burden with Companies House. It also takes a lot longer to set up than a sole trader.
Register with the ICO
Make sure you get the right advice and guidance on this. We are in lots of VA groups and see countless posts on this very subject with misinformation being shared. As a VA, we can tell you that most of the services that you provide to clients would see you needing to register with the ICO.
The ICO’s self-assessment test takes you through a series of questions. As with most things, the result you get is dependent on the way you answer the questions. Sadly the questions aren’t very clear. And it’s easy to misunderstand what the ICO is asking you. Especially if you aren’t used to data protection terminology. This is why we suggest that you either speak to the ICO directly either on the phone or using their online chat. Or even better, get advice from a professional with data protection experience.
Get Yourself Protected
As with any start up, when setting up your VA business, you should have the right contracts in place with your clients. A signed virtual assistant contract serves as a business foundation and holds both parties accountable in the case of a dispute or if someone breaches the terms of the agreement. We are currently running an offer which means you can get our handy Kickstart Your VA Career Guide absolutely free if you purchase one of our VA contract templates. All you need to do is buy one of our VA templates and we’ll send you the guide by email.
In addition to the VA contract, and in the case you need to use freelancers, associates or consultants to support your business, you should have a sub-contractor agreement. This way, you will stay protected should something goes wrong down the line.
Perhaps you are working together with a business that may require you to process personal data. Processing client data can be very complicated if you don’t know what you are doing. This is why you should always insist on having a Data Processing Agreement signed. With this agreement, both parties know about their responsibility on how to deal with processing personal data. However, if you purchase and use our Premium Virtual Assistant contract template you are already covered in relation to data processing as we have included all the relevant clauses you will need to be compliant.
Besides having the right contracts to keep you protected, there is one more thing you can do to ensure maximum protection as a VA, and that is insurance. The right insurance policies help protect you from any personal liability caused by your negligent acts, and against claims of breach of confidentiality, data, slander and more.
Get Your Website Legal
If you are using a website for your VA business, you should make sure it’s legally compliant. Some of the most strict regulations include data privacy laws. This means that your website has to be compliant in laws and regulations such as: website terms of use, data privacy, cookie policy, disclaimers, copyright and plagiarism requirements, data security requirements, anti-spam laws and many more.
Ultimately, the best way to make your website compliant and avoid getting into any bother is to be transparent with the users. This is also how you gain customer’s trust and loyalty. You should also seek professional tailored advice from lawyers such as us to offer you that peace of mind that you have all your ducks in a row. You can purchase a Privacy & Cookies Policy and a website Terms of Use from us and we will ensure that both documents are tailored to your specific business and website.
Protect Your Brand
The best way to protect your brand is to choose the right name from the outset and register a trademark to protect your name and or logo. However, it can’t be just any name. There are strict requirements that you must consider when choosing a name to trademark. That’s why the name you choose has to be unique, available, catchy and easy to remember.
When looking to name your brand, do your research to make sure nobody else is using the same name that you want to use – you can do this by googling the name and checking the trademark register here. This will prevent copycats from piggybacking on your successful brand.
Do you need help?
If you’re from the UK, and setting up your Virtual Assistant business here, we can help you with any legal questions you might have regarding your start up and the legalities around it. Or maybe you need to update current documents and contracts. In which case we have all the important legal documents on our website available for you to download. Or we can draft bespoke documents tailored to your specific business. When it comes to protecting your business legally, you have to make sure you are covered from all sides.