#compliance
Navigate regulatory compliance and maintain audit-ready financial records
The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act applies to every written warranty on a consumer product costing more than $10, requiring a full or limited title, forbidding blanket disclaimers of implied warranties and brand-name parts requirements, and mandating pre-sale access to the terms above $15. A small-seller guide with a 10-point compliance checklist.
Seed is only sellable if the label behind it is compliant — the Federal Seed Act requires kind, variety, lot number, germination percentage and test date, allows no more than five calendar months between the germination test month and interstate shipment (24 months for hermetically sealed containers), and demands three years of lot records. Most states add a labeler permit and their own sell-by limits on top.
Under the ADA a service animal is a dog individually trained to perform a disability-related task; emotional support animals do not qualify. Businesses may ask only two questions, cannot demand papers, vests or fees, and may remove a dog only if it is out of control or not housebroken. Covers the staff script, the FDA Food Code kitchen line, why housing (HUD) and airlines (DOT) differ, the 35 state fake-service-animal laws, and how to track compliance costs.
Under UCC 4-404 a bank may refuse a check presented more than six months after its date — but it may also pay it in good faith and charge your account. A "void after 90 days" legend binds the payee, not the bank. Here is how to age outstanding checks, place a six-month stop-payment order (14 days if oral), reissue safely, and report uncashed checks as unclaimed property.
Sweden exempts businesses with annual taxable turnover at or below SEK 120,000 from VAT registration, but since January 2025 the exemption also requires EU-wide turnover under €100,000. This guide explains the two-part test, why non-EU companies get no threshold, the SEK 90,000 intra-Community acquisitions rule, when voluntary registration pays off, and how to keep turnover evidence audit-ready.
Since 2023 plan years only 401(k) participants with account balances count toward the 100-participant large-plan line, so a 60-employee company can owe an $8,000 to $12,000 IQPA audit with its Form 5500. This guide covers the day-one count, how the 80-120 rule defers the audit, the July 31 and October 15 deadlines, and a first-audit preparation checklist.
Under the FLSA's suffered-or-permitted standard (29 CFR 785.11), a nonexempt employee's four-minute reply to a 9 p.m. text is compensable work if you knew or had reason to know it happened, and the de minimis rule in 29 CFR 785.47 rarely covers timestamped, recurring message time. This guide covers exempt-vs-nonexempt classification at the $684-per-week salary floor, the four timekeeping setups that manufacture violations, the two-to-three-year lookback with doubled liquidated damages, and a five-habit compliance playbook for small employers.
Connecticut's amended Data Privacy Act took effect July 1, 2026, cutting the applicability threshold from 100,000 to 35,000 consumers, adding zero-threshold triggers for sensitive data and data sales, and removing the guaranteed 60-day cure period. Here is what changed, what arrives October 1, and a six-step checklist for small businesses.
Any business hosting user uploads, reviews, or listings loses DMCA safe harbor unless it designates an agent with the Copyright Office for $6, renews that designation every three years, and actually enforces a repeat-infringer policy. This guide covers registration, the six elements of a valid takedown notice, the 10-to-14-business-day putback window, and the records that prove compliance.
Federal law lets employers exclude up to eight hours of sleep time from a shift of 24 hours or more — never from a shorter one — and only with adequate sleeping quarters, usually uninterrupted sleep, and an agreement. Every interruption is paid, and fewer than five consecutive hours of sleep makes the entire window compensable.
Three FMCSA final rules effective July 22, 2026 end federal CDL conviction self-reporting, drop the in-cab ELD operator's manual, and make roadside inspection report returns on-request only. Hours-of-service limits, drug-and-alcohol testing, annual MVR checks, driver qualification files and defect correction are unchanged; this guide covers what moved, what did not, and a 30-day small-fleet checklist.
Every U.S. employer must report each new hire and qualifying rehire to a State Directory of New Hires within 20 days of the first day of paid work, and electronic filers may batch reports 12 to 16 days apart. This guide covers the six required data points, the one-state designation that lets multistate employers file to a single directory, California and New York independent-contractor reporting rules, and the federal penalty cap of $25 per unreported employee rising to $500 for collusion.
