The Small Business Administration has launched a new site, Business.gov, that aims to reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses. The free resource lets small businesses sort through a comprehensive catalog of more than 20,000 compliance-related documents from all major federal agencies -- or 94 government Web sites.

It also includes links to 5,400 business forms and provides compliance assistance contacts at each agency. Future plans for the Web site include individual customization, and compliance information from state and local governments.

Small-business owners tend to be responsible for everything, including ordering inventory, hiring employees and dealing with federal, state and local mandates, said the National Federation of Independent Business, which gave the site a big thumbs up.

"Business.gov is an excellent step in creating a 'one-stop shop' for small-business owners. This site has the potential to be transformative in simplifying the regulatory process for small businesses," said Andrew Langer, NFIB's manager of regulatory policy. "Ultimately, this site can help small-business owners more easily know what obligations they have under the law, and also how they can fulfill these obligations in a less costly and time-consuming manner."

The cost of regulation for small business has risen by nearly 10 percent, to $7,647 per employee, per year (according to the SBA's Office of Advocacy).

Business.gov is managed by the SBA in partnership with 21 federal agencies.