Legal documentation isn’t just a formality, it’s your first line of defense and a powerful asset in your business toolkit. With more service providers, consultants, and digital business owners scaling their ventures in 2026, having the right legal agreements for small businesses in place is essential for protecting your work, revenue, and peace of mind. Strong contracts also improve legal readiness and help you avoid costly disputes.

Here are five non-negotiable agreements we recommend every small business have in place (or update) in 2026:

1. Service Agreement

Whether you’re a coach, consultant, or creative agency, a tailored service agreement outlines expectations, timelines, deliverables, fees, intellectual property ownership, and limitation of liability. It’s your best tool for managing client relationships and avoiding misunderstandings. A well-drafted contract also ensures legal protection for online educators and service providers working internationally.

2. Privacy Policy

Online presence = data collection. And data collection = legal responsibility. A compliant privacy policy that meets Australian law and international privacy compliance if you have global clients, is essential. Make it readable, accessible, and updated as your processes change. If you operate a membership site, this document is key to your membership site legal readiness.

3. Terms & Conditions (Website or Platform)

Website terms and conditions are the legal foundation of any digital product or service. They help clarify how your site or services should be used, outline refund policies, limit liability, and protect your intellectual property. It’s also where disclaimers for online courses and professional services can live, especially important for health or financial service providers.

4. Contractor or Employment Agreements

If you’re building a team, make sure every working relationship is clearly defined. This protects you from misclassification risks, tax issues, and IP disputes. Employment contracts and contractor agreements should cover deliverables, confidentiality, compensation, and how the relationship ends. These agreements support compliance with employment law for employers and safeguard business operations.

5. Joint Venture or Collaboration Agreement

Working with a partner on a launch or program? Before revenue is earned, decisions are made, or branding is shared, get it in writing. A joint venture agreement for online education or business collaboration helps prevent conflict and ensures aligned expectations. Even informal collaborations benefit from a basic agreement that covers revenue sharing, intellectual property protection, and decision-making processes.

Don’t let legal gaps slow your growth. Start the new season with confidence and ensure your business is covered with these essential legal agreements for small business owners.

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Why Online Course Protection Matters in 2025

The online education industry continues to grow rapidly in 2025, making online course protection a crucial priority for course creators and membership site owners. Whether you’re a coach, consultant, or educator, understanding legal protection for online courses helps safeguard your content, income, and brand reputation.

Without proper legal readiness, you risk disputes over intellectual property, refund policies, or collaborator arrangements. This article covers the essentials every online educator needs to protect their courses and memberships effectively.

Click here to learn how to protect yourself from legal disputes.

1. Protect Your Intellectual Property (IP)

Your course content, videos, slides, and workbooks, is valuable intellectual property. If you’re not careful, it’s also vulnerable. That’s why taking steps toward effective intellectual property protection for online courses is essential for every educator.

Here’s how you can start protecting yours:

• Register your copyright (where applicable): While copyright exists automatically, formal registration strengthens your legal rights. The only government supported registry is in the United States of America for digital copyright content you want to protect in that jurisdiction.

   

• Use copyright notices: Clearly mark all course materials with your brand and copyright details.

   

• Add watermarks or branded visuals: These deter content theft and reinforce your ownership.

   

Pro Tip: Include a clause in your course terms prohibiting students from redistributing or reselling your content. This step is vital for anyone offering online education programs or digital memberships. You would be surprised how many people think they know what you have taken years to perfect after participating with you just once!

2. Set Clear Terms for Students

Well-drafted Terms and Conditions for online courses form the backbone of your legal protection. These terms should outline:

• Access & Usage: Define how long students can access the course and whether downloads are allowed. Lifetime access offers are not recommended!
• Payment & Refunds: Clearly state your refund policy and payment schedule.
• Community Guidelines: Outline behavior expectations for group discussions, live calls, or forums.
• Intellectual Property Use: Specify what content can and cannot be shared.

Clear terms reduce misunderstandings and set professional boundaries between you and your students.

3. Use Disclaimers to Limit Liability

If your course provides business, financial, or health-related advice, disclaimers are essential to limit liability. Your disclaimer should state:

• The course is for educational purposes only and not professional advice.

• Results may vary, and success is not guaranteed.

• You are not responsible for how students implement the material.

This is part of having effective disclaimers for online courses.

4. Secure Collaborations and Guest Contributions

Working with co-creators or guest experts? Document everything. A Joint Venture Agreement or Revenue Share Agreement should cover:

• Ownership of content: Clarify who owns recordings, slides, and course assets.
• Revenue splits: Define how profits will be divided and paid out.
• Usage rights: Decide whether collaborators can reuse content elsewhere.

Use our Revenue Share Agreement Checklist to clarify terms. For ongoing partnerships, create a joint venture agreement for online education.

5. Review and Update Regularly

Laws evolve, and so does your business. Schedule an annual review of your course terms, disclaimers, and agreements. Update them when:

• You add new modules or features

• Your pricing or refund policies change

• New regulations impact online learning or data privacy

This ensures ongoing legal protection for online educators and helps you maintain membership site legal readiness. 

Want a deeper dive into protecting your courses and memberships?

Download our free resource: The Ultimate Guide to Memberships for Online Educators

This guide helps you structure your memberships, protect your content, and avoid the most common legal mistakes creators make. For personalized support, book a Short Advice Session with our team today.

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Division 7A loans can easily trip up small business owners in Australia, especially when personal expenses blur into business transactions. Understanding these rules is critical to avoid unintended tax consequences and ensuring tax compliance for business owners.

This article breaks down what Division 7A is, why it matters, and how to stay compliant so you protect both your business and your financial future.

What Is Division 7A?

Division 7A is a section of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 that prevents private companies from distributing profits to shareholders (or their associates) as tax-free payments. If your company provides funds or benefits to shareholders in a way that looks like income, but isn’t reported as such, it could be treated as an unfranked dividend and taxed at your marginal rate.

Division 7A applies even if:

• You operate via a trust or partnership
  
• The payment is made to a related entity (e.g. a family trust)
• The transaction is labelled something else but ultimately benefits a shareholder or associate

What the ATO Considers a ‘Loan’

Under Division 7A, a ‘loan’ can include:

• Direct payments to a shareholder or associate
  
• Use of company credit for personal expenses from business account
• Repayment of personal debts using company funds
• Any financial benefit or arrangement that creates an expectation of repayment

These are classified as loans to shareholders under Division 7A.

Real-World Examples of Division 7A Loans

Some common scenarios that may trigger Division 7A include:

• Paying personal expenses like school fees, groceries, or mortgage from the company account
  
• Using company funds to pay off a personal credit card

   

• Your business owns an asset (like a boat or property), and you use it personally

   

• Funds flow from your company to a trust and then to you

   

These examples often result in EOFY loans that need to be documented and structured to avoid being taxed.

Why it Matters: What Happens If You Don’t Comply?

If a Division 7A loan isn’t properly documented and structured:

• It will be treated as a Division 7A deemed dividend
  
• You’ll pay tax on the full amount at your personal income tax rate
  
• You may trigger ATO scrutiny and penalties

   

And no, repaying the loan the day before June 30 and withdrawing the funds again on July 1 doesn’t bypass the rules. The ATO has flagged this tactic and treats it as non-compliant under ATO loan rules.

How to Stay Compliant with Division 7A

To avoid being taxed on what the ATO considers a dividend, you need a Complying Division 7A Loan Agreement. Here’s what it must include:

Written Agreement

The loan must be documented in writing by the time the company’s tax return is due (including extensions). A properly structured Division 7A loan agreement is essential to meet ATO Division 7A rules.

Specified Loan Terms

• Up to 7 years for unsecured loans
• Up to 25 years for secured loans (must be backed by a mortgage over real property)

Minimum Yearly Repayments

Each year, you must make minimum repayments, including interest at the benchmark interest rate (ATO) published for that financial year.

📌 The ATO has a helpful Division 7A Loan Calculator to help calculate your repayments.

Common Misconceptions

Misconception #1: You can set your own interest rate.
Truth: You must use at least the ATO’s benchmark interest rate for that financial year.

Misconception #2: Only shareholders are affected.
Truth: Division 7A also applies to associates, such as family members or trusts controlled by shareholders.

Misconception #3: If I repay and redraw a loan around EOFY, it doesn’t get caught by the rules.
Truth: The ATO views this as an avoidance strategy and still treats it as a Division 7A loan.

Final Checks: Do You Have a Division 7A Loan? 

Not sure? Before finalising your EOFY accounts:

• Check with your accountant or bookkeeper
  
• Review whether you’ve paid personal expenses from your business account
• Ensure proper documentation is in place

Key Takeaways for Australian Small Business Owners

• Keep personal and business finances separate whenever possible
  
• If funds are borrowed, ensure a written Division 7A agreement is in place
• Make repayments on time and at the correct rate
• Speak with your accountant to stay compliant with ATO Division 7A rules and broader ATO loan rules

Want peace of mind? Our legal team can help you review or draft Division 7A agreements tailored to your business.

📅 Book a free consult to stay compliant and avoid costly surprises

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Revenue Share Agreements: Legal Essentials for Online Business in Australia

Thinking about a revenue share deal? Here’s what you need to know before saying yes.

Revenue sharing can be a great model for collaboration in online business. But without the right legal structure, it can also lead to confusion, disputes and in some cases, costly fallout.

At Onyx Legal, we regularly advise Australian coaches, consultants, agencies, and service providers on how to protect themselves in revenue share agreements. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the legal side of these deals so you can make informed, confident decisions.

What Is a Revenue Share Agreement?

A revenue share agreement is a contract where two or more parties agree to split the revenue generated from a product, service, or business activity. It’s commonly used in online collaborations where one party delivers the service while the other contributes marketing, leads, or tech infrastructure.

Example: A Brisbane-based business coach partners with a Sydney digital agency. The coach delivers the program, the agency assists in increasing sales by handling the funnel, and they split the revenue received from those additional sales 60/40.

This model is attractive for entrepreneurs who want to grow quickly without upfront costs. But it requires clarity to work well. Revenue share deals are often informal at first, which makes legal documentation even more important.

Without legal grounding, it’s easy to fall into mismatched expectations leading to misunderstandings, late payments, or legal risk if a deal goes sour.

Key Legal Considerations Before You Sign (Australia Context)

Before entering into a revenue share arrangement, it’s essential to get clarity on:

1. Roles and Responsibilities

Who is doing what? Spell this out in detail to avoid mismatched expectations

• Who manages delivery?
• Who is in charge of customer service, refunds, or disputes?
• What happens if there’s a problem with delivery or fulfillment?
  

2. What Counts as Revenue?

You must define:

• Is GST included in revenue?
• Are discounts or refunds deducted before the split?
• Are upsells and cross-sells included?

These questions must be settled before launching your offer.

3. When & How Will You Get Paid?

Set a clear schedule for calculating and distributing revenue shares (e.g., monthly, after reconciliation).

• Will reports be provided?
• Who handles reconciliation of payments?
• What platform is used for tracking sales and calculating revenue?
  

4. Who Owns What?

Protect your IP. Define what each party owns, especially content, customer data, and brand assets.

• If the partnership ends, who owns the email list or the funnel?
• Who retains rights to the original course, brand name, or materials?
  

5. Exit & Dispute Clauses

What happens if the relationship ends or someone doesn’t deliver? Build in:

• A notice period for ending the agreement
• Mediation or dispute resolution clauses (note: mediation is common in Australia before litigation)
• A plan for what happens to shared assets and active clients

Pro Tip: Download our Revenue Share Questionnaire to identify your legal blind spots before entering an agreement.

Revenue Share vs. Joint Venture: What’s the Difference?

While both models involve collaboration, a partnership agreement or a shareholder agreement typically involves a new business entity with shared ownership. A revenue share deal, on the other hand, like a joint venture does not create a separate entity, it’s simply a contractual agreement between parties.

Companies and Partnerships often involve:

• Shared liabilities and obligations under Australian law
• More formal structures and tax implications

Revenue share agreements are often easier to dissolve and more agile and rely upon contractual legal protection, which is why they need to be well-structured.

If you’re unsure which model is best, speak to a lawyer early. The wrong structure can have tax or liability implications including under Australian consumer law.

Why Templates Aren’t Enough (Especially in Australia)

We’ve seen many businesses rely on generic templates or verbal agreements and end up in disputes.

Here’s why templates usually fall short:

• They don’t reflect your unique revenue model or industry nuances
• They may use US-based legal terms that don’t apply under Australian law
• They often lack clauses around IP, GST, dispute resolution, or ASIC compliance

A customised agreement not only protects your interests, it also signals professionalism and builds trust with your partner.

Example: A Costly Misunderstanding

A Gold Coast based digital agency entered a 50/50 revenue share deal with a clairvoyant promoting personal horoscopes. The deal was sealed verbally. Nothing was put in writing.

The digital agency invested in re-building the website and portal for customer communications and distribution of the horoscopes on the basis that they would receive 50% of the sales.

Before launch the clairvoyant decided the website didn’t reflect what she wanted and she did not want to go ahead with the launch.

• The digital agency expected to be paid for their time for the work completed.
• The clairvoyant insisted that payment was only due from sales and that she retained the right to refuse to go ahead if she wasn’t comfortable and wanted to be compensated for the time she had lost getting the website to launch.
• With nothing in writing the digital agency could do nothing but retain the work they had done, and pursue payment.

The relationship broke down. The digital agency came to us chasing payment but the cost of doing that was likely to exceed the value of time they had already invested in the website build. Both parties walked away frustrated, no one got paid.

The lesson: Legal clarity upfront could’ve included a clause on dispute resolution and prevented the fallout.

Final Thoughts: Protect the Relationship and the Revenue

Revenue share deals can be a powerful way to grow, when they’re built on mutual understanding and solid legal foundations.

If you’re considering a partnership or collaboration in Australia, don’t wait until things go wrong. Get clear from the start.

Download Our Free Revenue Share Questionnaire

Avoid legal blind spots and enter your next deal with confidence. Get the questionnaire now.

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