Top 5 Changes for Small Business in 2011

The cliche is true: the one constant is change.

As the New Year approaches, a series of regulatory, compliance, and legislative changes will occur that will affect U.S. small business owners. Paychex, Inc., recently put together a list of the most influential business regulations in 2011. We narrowed the list down to five that we found the most interesting.

1. Tax changes - In 2011, taxes are going to get even more complicated for small business owners. (What did you think, it was going to get easier?) However, as a plus, there will be a retroactive extension of some of the tax incentives that expired at the end of last year.

2. Health care reform - Obviously health care reform is going to have a big impact on small businesses in 2011. Under the reform, small businesses will receive tax credits to purchase health insurance. Health plans that existed on or before March 23, 2010 will be grandfathered in, but you cannot make any significant changes to the plan.

3. Employment law - There is going to be an increase in measures requiring greater transparency to workers on the wages they are owed. Specifically, there will be an emphasis on minimum wage and overtime requirements laws.

4. Federal Trade Commission requirements - Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, StumbleUpon, blogs... they all are areas lacking regulatory guidance. The FTC is looking into creating a "Do Not Track" tool for the Internet, based on the concept of the "Do Not Call" registry.

5. Privacy - 2010 brought a lot of discussions about privacy, and it looks like many changes will come into effect in 2011. Some states are now requiring notice to customers in the case of a data breach. Others are requiring certain levels of security for sensitive data, especially in health care.

You can check out the full list here.

Related Resources:

• Small Business Center (FindLaw)
• Employment Law and Human Resources (FindLaw)
• Business Laws & Regulations (FindLaw)