How to Register a Business in Canada (Sole Prop vs Incorporate)
Price the work first: how to set a freelance rate. Confirm you are actually self-employed: employee versus contractor. Whether a corporation should exist is should you incorporate. How money comes out if it does is salary versus dividends. GST/HST and the T2125 are side-hustle taxes. This page is the registration step in between.
- Ontario's business registry lists a sole proprietorship or general partnership name registration at $60 online, effective immediately. A registration under the Business Names Act lasts five years and is renewed for $60.
- An Ontario business corporation is $300 online on the same fee page. A federal incorporation filed online with Corporations Canada is $200, with an extra $100 if you buy the four-hour express service.
- A CRA business number is not the Ontario BIN and not the federal corporation number. You still open it when you need payroll, GST/HST, or import accounts.
- Other provinces have their own registries and their own fees. This page does not invent them. Use that province's registry.
Sole prop first, unless you already know you need a company
If you operate in your own legal name, you may not need a business-name registration at all. The moment the invoice says something other than your name, Ontario wants a registration. The Ontario Business Registry fee table lists a new sole proprietorship, general partnership, or business-name registration at $60 online, processed immediately, and $60 by mail with a longer wait. The renewal instruction for the Business Names Act says the registration lasts five years. Miss the renewal, including the grace period described on that form, and you are filing a new registration with a new identification number rather than extending the old one.
That $60 buys a name on a public register. It does not incorporate you, it does not limit your liability, and it does not register you for GST/HST. The small-supplier tests, including the $30,000 line most suppliers meet before they must register, are on the side-hustle tax article and on CRA's registration pages. Read those before you collect tax you are not required to collect, and before you skip tax you are required to collect.
Two ways to incorporate, with the fees on the fee pages
| Filing | Published online fee | What you still owe after |
|---|---|---|
| Ontario business corporation | $300, immediate online | A minute book, annual returns, and a T2. A NUANS name search if you are not using a number name. Ontario says a federal-biased NUANS is not accepted for an Ontario named corporation. |
| Federal corporation, Corporations Canada, online | $200, about one day. Express service adds $100 for a four-hour standard. | Extra-provincial registration in the province where you operate. That fee is provincial and variable. Corporations Canada says so. |
| Ontario trade name on an existing corporation | $60 online for a business-name registration | The corporation you already have. The name registration is not a second company. |
A federal corporation is not "more official" than an Ontario one for a person who lives and sells in Ontario. It is a different statute, a different fee, and often a second registration in the province. People who sell incorporation as a package sometimes bundle a holding company on day one. A holdco is a later question, and usually a no, until there is surplus to hold: holding-company income.
The order that wastes the least money
- Decide the status. If the payer controls the work, you may be an employee. Registering a company does not fix that.
- Pick the name. Search the Ontario registry for free before you pay. Corporations Canada includes a name search in the online federal incorporation. Do not pay for a report you do not need.
- File the smallest thing that matches the decision. Trade name if you are a sole prop with a brand. Corporation only if the incorporation test is met.
- Then the CRA business number, only for the accounts you actually need. Payroll if you will pay yourself a salary. GST/HST if the tests say so.
- Then a bank account in the name that is on the registration, and invoices that use that name. The rate on the invoice is the freelance-rate article, not this one.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a corporation to send an invoice?
No. A sole prop invoices in their own name, or in a registered trade name. A corporation is a second taxpayer. It earns its cost only in the cases the incorporation article describes. A Tuesday-turnaround incorporation is a product. It is not a milestone.
Is the Ontario BIN the same as a CRA business number?
No. Ontario says so on the registration steps. The BIN is the provincial identifier. The BN is CRA's. You will be asked for both by banks and by payroll, and they are not interchangeable.
What if I am not in Ontario?
Use your provincial registry's fee page. This article quotes Ontario and the federal fee because those are the pages reviewed. Copying the $60 or the $300 into another province is how people pay the wrong office.
Sources
- Ontario: cost and time to register a business name or corporation
- Ontario: register your business online
- Corporations Canada: services, fees, and processing times
