How to Register a Business in Canada Step by Step

Registering a business in Canada takes about a week and costs under $400 if you do it right. Most owners waste money on services they do not need and skip the two decisions that actually matter. Here is the sequence I walk every new client through.

The process has six steps. None of them are complicated. The order matters because skipping ahead creates rework that costs real money to undo later.

The Problem Most Owners Run Into

The internet tells new owners that registering a business is hard. It is not. The hard part is choosing between sole proprietorship and incorporation, and choosing between federal and provincial. Almost everyone gets bad advice on both.

According to Statistics Canada, there were 1.22 million employer businesses operating in Canada in 2023. The vast majority are small. That tells you the system is built for small operators, not for venture-backed startups. You do not need a $2,000 lawyer package to set up a business that earns $200,000 a year.

I have seen a new owner spend $1,800 on an incorporation service that bundled a NUANS search, a federal filing, a minute book, and a corporate seal. Three months later he learned he was supposed to be provincially registered for tax purposes anyway. He paid for things he did not need and skipped the registration that actually mattered.

The Six Steps in Order

Here is the actual sequence. Do them in this order. Do not let a service provider sell you on doing them in a different one.

1. Pick a structure. Sole proprietorship or corporation. Sole prop is fine for service businesses under $100,000 with no employees. Corporation is the right answer for almost everything else.
2. Pick a jurisdiction. Federal or provincial. Provincial is fine if you operate in one province. Federal is worth it if you want name protection across Canada or plan to expand.
3. Run a NUANS name search. Required for any named corporation. Costs $13 to $75 depending on jurisdiction. Skip this only if you are using a numbered company.
4. File the incorporation. Federal is $200 online through Corporations Canada. Provincial varies from $250 to $360. You get a certificate of incorporation the same day.
5. Get your business number from the CRA. Free. Register for GST or HST, payroll, and import or export accounts at the same time if you need them.
6. Open a business bank account. Bring the certificate of incorporation, your business number, and the directors' identification. Allow a week.

The CFO Perspective

The two decisions that actually matter are structure and bank discipline. Everything else is paperwork.

"Incorporation is cheap. Cleaning up commingled personal and business spending two years later is not." Peter Xia, CPA

One of my clients started a consulting business in early 2024. He filed as a sole proprietor because a friend told him incorporation was expensive. He earned $185,000 in his first year. By the time we met in March 2025, he owed $42,000 in personal income tax that he could have deferred inside a corporation taxed at 12.2 percent on the first $500,000 of active business income. Incorporating in year two cost him $200 and a NUANS search. Not incorporating in year one cost him roughly $24,000 in tax he could have left inside the company to reinvest.

The other rule is that the day you incorporate, the company has its own bank account and the company pays for company things. No personal Visa for office supplies. No dipping into the corporate account for groceries. Commingled spending is the single most expensive bookkeeping mistake I see, because cleaning it up retroactively can cost $3,000 to $5,000 in accountant fees that should never have been spent.

How to Set Yourself Up Right

1. Decide structure based on revenue and risk, not on advice from a friend who set up his side hustle in 2018.
2. If incorporating, file directly with Corporations Canada or your provincial registry. Skip the bundled service unless you genuinely want a custom name search and a minute book.
3. Run NUANS only if you are using a named company. A numbered company is a legitimate choice and skips the search entirely.
4. Register for GST or HST voluntarily on day one if you expect to spend money on business expenses. The input tax credits flow back to you immediately.
5. Open the bank account in the company name within two weeks of incorporation. Move every business transaction to that account starting the same day.
6. Set up cloud accounting software the same week you open the bank account. QuickBooks Online, Xero, or Wave are all fine. The point is to start clean from transaction one.

The Bottom Line

Registering a business in Canada is a one-week, sub-$400 task if you make two clean decisions and skip the upsells. The expensive part is what happens after, when commingled spending and missed elections quietly cost you tens of thousands in tax and rework. If you want the checklist I use with new business owners, book a free call at peterxiacpa.com/book.

Next step: run your numbers through the free CFO scorecard.