Work

February 14, 2006 10:02 AM

Opening a small business in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. What do I do to register a small business with the government? I've been interested in doing this for a few reasons, mostly because I want to work for myself (a good enough reason I know) but am unsure how to register it bureaucratically.

Where do I go for this? Is it federal or provincial? Are there any other separate places I should also register with which might be useful in the future (especially if they're free)?

posted by Napierzaza to Law & Government (11 answers total)

Check out Corporation Center. You can buy their service if you want, but if not there's still lots of information available there.

You might also be interested in checking out the Corporations Canada material from Strategis at Industry Canada.
posted by mikel at 10:10 AM on February 14, 2006

Do you speak French? Most provinces have websites like these designed to guide you through the registration/incorporation process. Unfortunately, the page hasn't been translated. And you'll need to keep clicking "English" as you move around the site.

Incorporating is a provincial process.
posted by generichuman at 10:12 AM on February 14, 2006

Incorporating is a provincial process.

Well, one can incorporate provincially or federally, or both, or in every province. Here's the FAQ from Canada, which addresses this point, as well as the Quebec Registrare des Enterprise.
posted by loquax at 10:16 AM on February 14, 2006

True. Sorry, I assume that you're a small business. in my experience most small business seem to incorporate provincially.
posted by generichuman at 10:28 AM on February 14, 2006

Response by poster: It won't be a puclicly traded corporation!
posted by Napierzaza at 10:28 AM on February 14, 2006

Response by poster: Also I believe you have to pay to incorporate, I think you can make just a regular small business.
posted by Napierzaza at 10:29 AM on February 14, 2006

Do you want/need to incorporate? If you operate under your own name as a sole proprietor, you don't need to register. However, your municipality may require a business license and your revenues (typically over $30k) may require you to collect GST or PST (depends on business type).
posted by acoutu at 10:30 AM on February 14, 2006

Are you talking about a sole proprietorship? If so, then it's not a big deal. Look here for the forms required for various types of businesses in Quebec. If you want to incorporate, go here. You know the legal differences and all that right? Incorporation has nothing to do with being publicly traded, it has to do with limiting personal liability. As a sole proprietor, you personally are liable for the debts of the business.
posted by loquax at 11:47 AM on February 14, 2006

You don't need to incorporate as long as you pay taxes. So you should register to obtain TPS (GST) and TVQ numbers for your business.
posted by bru at 12:29 PM on February 14, 2006

Canadabusiness.gc.ca is a good starting point.
posted by jikel_morten at 12:30 PM on February 14, 2006

I used CA4IT.com to incorporate my small business. They focus mainly on IT, but they're fairly open to other areas. They did all the legal paperwork, gave me good tax advice, free consultations, and do my taxes for me. They seem to have a location in Montreal, and if I remember correctly it cost me around $400 to get all the incorporation and paperwork done. It was well worth it to me, since I'm fairly clueless in that area.
posted by blue_beetle at 1:37 PM on February 14, 2006