Hello all! Here’s post #10, starting a business in Canada.

It’s not very hard, but there are a few things you need to do:

1. Pick a name
2. Check if that name is already registered by sending in an application form to the Companies Office. You can click here to find a link to the form Note: It costs $45
3. Wait for the name search result to come back
4. If your name is good, they'll reserve it for a time. I believe it was 3 months. You may now register it by filling the paperwork for registering a business and send it in with the required cash. If you need the link to the form please click here Note: You need to decide whether or not to incorporate your business. If it’s a small business, I don’t think there’s a need to incorporate as there is a lot of paperwork and not really any benefit to it. Incorporating is more for when your business is your full time job and you want to protect your other assets in the event you get sued i.e. if the business ever gets sued they can only take what’s owned by the business, nothing what you personally own. This form costs $60
5. Wait about 2 weeks and your business is registered!

Now, depending on what type of business you are doing you may need a few permits. For example, if you are operating a business that sells food that you prepare you are going to need a food handling permit. Also, if you are operating your business out of your home or an office you will need either a home based business permit or a business office permit.

There are many advantages to starting a business, the least being the ability to write off a portion of all your housing bills if you are running a home based business and you have an office in your home. If you lease a vehicle for a business you can write off a portion of that as well. See everything you can write off here.

And that’s all it takes to start a business here in Winnipeg! If you have any questions on the process, drop me a comment below. Sorry for the short post! I’ll try and think of a longer one for next week!