Which laws apply to your business

Retention duties are scattered. A single business can be subject to dozens of Acts and regulations, from the Commonwealth and from each state it operates in. Which of them reach you depends on a few facts about your organisation.

The facts that decide it

Where you operate. Commonwealth law applies everywhere. State and territory law applies where you have operations, employees or customers. A business in two states has both sets.

What kind of entity you are. Companies, trusts, partnerships, charities and sole traders are treated differently under corporations, tax and charity law.

How big you are. Size thresholds, such as turnover and number of employees, decide whether some laws reach you. The Privacy Act is the well-known case, but it isn’t the only one.

Whether you employ people. Employers carry a distinct group of duties: pay, leave, superannuation, work health and safety, and records about workers.

Your industry. Financial services, health, aviation, construction, professional services and others each have their own licensing and conduct rules, many with record-keeping duties.

What you do. Holding health information, receiving tax file numbers, registering for GST, working for a government agency, or being a reporting entity under anti-money laundering law each bring further requirements.

Why it’s easy to get wrong

• A duty can bind only some businesses. The provision may apply only to a licence class, a size band or a particular activity, and it may say so in a different section.
• Generic lists include too much. A list of everything that could apply tells you little about what does.
• Lists miss too much. One built for another business, or another state, leaves gaps.
• Facts change. A new state, a new activity or growth past a threshold changes the answer.

What a good answer looks like

For each requirement in your schedule, you should be able to say why it applies to you: the fact about your business that brings it in. That is what separates a schedule from a list.

ScheduleOne asks about these facts, tests your profile against every requirement, and shows the reason each one applies.