AG and NFIB offer guidance for small-business owners

Can small-business owners add a surcharge to bills to make up for rises in minimum-wage rates and not have it considered a tax? What must they do with the surcharge? How can they educate customers about the surcharge, and what should they not say?

The Small Business Legal Center of the National Federation of Independent Business, America’s largest and leading small-business assocation, worked with Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office to clarify some very important considerations when adding a surcharge to a bill.

“Our work to clarify the law on this matter is a prime example of the many perils of having a crazy quilt of minimum wage rates, instead of just one for the entire state,” said Patrick Connor, NFIB’s Washington state director. “Our members have been asking for some guidance on this, and we appreciate the attorney general’s willingness to work with us in a timely manner.”

The clarification, worked out by Luke Wake, senior staff attorney for the Small Business Legal Center can be read at http://www.nfib.com/article/important-to-know-this-law-70809/.

America’s Voice of Small Business since 1943, NFIB has 350,000 dues-paying members across the nation, including more than 8,000 members in Washington state.