NYC Guide To Avoid Common Fines For Small Businesses

In the face of ongoing complaints about the regulatory burdens placed on New York City’s small businesses, the city government has released a short guide to avoiding the most common violations affecting small business owners.

The two-page guide shows how to comply with rules that account for more than 30 percent of small business violations. It was released in December, but we only caught wind of it in an e-mail newsletter earlier this week, and couldn’t find a link to it on any of the related city websites – so we figured it was worth sharing.

The guide is an initiative of NYC Business, the new online destination that hopes to be a portal for all small business owners. Their site launched in late 2013, with basic information about starting a business and overviews of various regulations. The site is meant to be a hub that brings together the services of various agencies, including Small Business Services the NYC Business Acceleration team.

Plans for the NYC Business portal include expanding the services offered, with a permit, license and inspection status tracker, and increasing the number of  permits and licenses one can apply and pay for online.

The two-page guide lives online at on.nyc.gov/topviolations. But, in a groan-inducing display of ironic inconvenience, that URL just forwards you to a .pdf of the pamphlet. So to make it easier, we’ve posted it below. Click to enlarge.