Ronika Khanna explains that sole proprietors must register their business name with their province if it's anything other than their personal name. Registration costs about $40–$50, happens online, and is separate from taxes. She covers provincial requirements but saves tax obligations for a follow-up.
Hello everyone. Today I want to talk to you about business registration in Canada. My name is Ronica Canna, I'm the founder of Montreal Financial. And you can find lots of resources on my website as well as my YouTube channel. And if you find this useful, please subscribe. Okay, so basically, if you have a small business, you're self employed, you're a freelancer, side hustle, whatever you want to call it, you are technically a sole proprietorship. Assuming it's just you. And this happens whether or not you are registered, you are required to reflect this income or your personal tax return on a special section on the small business section. So that is actually completely separate from the registration process. Now, with respect to registration.
Every province has its own process, but the basic rule is that if you are using a name other than your first and last name, then you have to register your business with the province. This is essentially a regulatory process, again separate from income tax. And it means that you are just set up with the province and recognized by the province and are able to use the name that you have chosen. So in essence, you have to get permission for the name. Generally speaking speaking, registration in most provinces is very reasonable. It's like 40, $50 and you are required to go register. Most of them have online portals where you can do this, or you can go in person, or you can call them and determine again if your name is usable, if you're allowed to use it. And then once that's been established, you can go ahead and register your business. And then again, generally speaking, in most provinces you would pay an annual registration fee. So it's fairly simple this. But again, you need to remember that in any context. So if you have an Instagram handle or a website that is a name that isn't your first and last name, you must register your sole proprietorship. In a future video, I'll be talking to you about your tax obligations and sales tax. I hope this was useful. As mentioned. If it was, please subscribe and see you soon.
