One-on-One Help to Start Your Business

Starting a business comes with a lot of questions—especially when it comes to taxes, registration, and setting up your finances the right way.

Whether you’re deciding between sole proprietorship and incorporation, trying to understand your tax obligations (like GST/HST), or figuring out how to track your income and expenses, I’ll help you get clear on what matters most.

In a one-on-one personalized consultation, we’ll walk through your specific situation so you can start with confidence, avoid common mistakes, and ensure that you are starting on a solid foundation.

Incorporation and Business Registration Services

If you’ve decided that incorporating is the right next step for your business, I recommend using Ownr—a trusted platform that makes business registration quick and easy. You can incorporate online in minutes and get support along the way.

Ownr walks you through the process step by step and provides the legal documents you need to get started. It’s an affordable and efficient way to incorporate—especially if you don’t need full legal support.

Use my referral link to get a discount on your incorporation fee.

Articles about Business Structure

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Essentials for Starting Your Sole Proprietorship
Essentials for Starting Your Sole Proprietorship

According to Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), the definition of a sole proprietorship is as follows:

A sole proprietorship is an unincorporated business that is owned by one individual. It is the simplest kind of business structure. The owner of a sole proprietorship has sole responsibility for making decisions, receives all the profits, claims all losses, and does not have separate legal status from the business. If you are a sole proprietor, you also assume all the risks of the business. The risks extend even to your personal property and assets.

The simple answer is that if you are selling any type of product or service, on an ongoing basis, and you are not employed by another organization where you receive an employment income slip such as a T4, you essentially have a business. If this business in not incorporated or part of a partnership with one or more individuals, then you are a sole proprietorship.

Pros and Cons of Incorporating your small business
Pros and Cons of Incorporating your small business

The decision to incorporate can be a difficult one that many small businesses face at some point in their lifetime and . Incorporation, literally, represents the creation of a new person.  Whereas a sole proprietorship is an extension of one's self, a corporation takes on a life of it's own; it can give birth to subsidiary, marry via a merger and die with a dissolution.  It has to file it's own tax return, can be sued and has a set of rules that govern it's existence.  Below are some of the points to consider when deciding whether to incorporate:

Revenue Canada Interest, Penalties and Payment Arrangements for Income Tax and GST/HST Returns
Revenue Canada Interest, Penalties and Payment Arrangements for Income Tax and GST/HST Returns

Whether you are an individual or a business in Canada, taxes are an inescapable part of your existence.  All sources of income need to be calculated, tax returns needs to be filed and taxes owing must be paid.  This is somewhat facilitated if you are an employee as your employer tends to take care of the majority of remittances.  Self-employed individuals, sole proprietorships, partnerships and corporations on the other hand, must account for their income and expenses , determine taxes payable  and remit the appropriate amounts.  Additionally, businesses are also responsible for other filings including GST/HST and QST and payroll.  A lack of knowledge, imperfect accounting systems and the business of running a business sometimes interfere with the timeliness of filings.  The Canada Revenue Agency attempts to curb these tardy behaviours by imposing penalties and interest on late filings as follows:

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Should you Register or Incorporate Your Small Business?
Should you Register or Incorporate Your Small Business?

When embarking on a new business venture one of the first decisions that has to be made is the type of legal structure best suits the needs of the new business. In Canada there are essentially two choices - business registration (sole proprietorship or partnership/unincorporated entity) or incorporation.  Like many small business decisions, the answer in not necessarily straightforward and depends on the business owner’s specific set of circumstances:

What Are the Next Steps After Incorporation
What Are the Next Steps After Incorporation

Once you have decided to establish a new corporation, there are certain best practices that you should implement to ensure that your corporation runs smoothly right from the beginning. If you are transitioning from a sole proprietorship to a corporation (unincorporated to incorporated entity), there are some additional steps that you need to take. By being proactive, you can turn your mind to your actual business and avoid unpleasant surprises (such as incomprehensible letters from the government and inconvenient deadlines). This article looks at the next steps you need to take after you have incorporated your business.

Financial Roadmap for Employees Transitioning to Self-Employment
Financial Roadmap for Employees Transitioning to Self-Employment

Deciding to transition from being an employee to self-employed business owner/freelancer/independent contractor. can be a significant life event. It can certainly be exciting as you relish the thought of greater freedom, flexibility and the ability to exercise your creativity in ways that you cannot when you are an employee. However, there is also a great deal of uncertainty, both professionally and financially. And while you cannot control the outcome, understanding where the uncertainty might come from will help you be much better prepared.

20 Essential Tax Facts for Small Business/Self Employed Owners
20 Essential Tax Facts for Small Business/Self Employed Owners

Probably the most popular question posed to accountants and tax preparers (especially around this time of year) is what types of expenses are deductible. The short answer is that an expense is considered to be deductible if it has been incurred with the ultimate purpose of earning income. For example if you purchase a domain name with the intent of setting up a website to sell your goods or services, this would be a deductible expense. However, if the purpose of your website is simply a place to show pictures of your cat, this would not be considered a business and therefore not a deductible expense. Of course if your cat picture website starts to become popular and you decide that you want to actively build this business by advertising on the site or partnering up with cat product resellers, your non commercial hobby could then be considered a business. Since you now have the intent to build a business the income earned would have to be reported and expenses incurred to earn this income would be deductible.

7 Qualities of Highly Desirable Clients
7 Qualities of Highly Desirable Clients

When you are a business owner/freelancer, there is wonderful feeling of gratification when you land a great client. These are clients that ask great questions, respect our work and make us feel happy to have chosen the entrepreneurial route.  Then there are the not so great clients who have unrealistic expectations, are unimaginative and often just plain clueless.

It should also go without saying that we must also do what it takes to be provide an excellent experience to our clients and customers. It is not dissimilar from being in a relationship with a partner or spouse and for both sides to get the most out of it, you as the service provider, must also be responsive, respectful, fair and transparent.

Essential Facts about Shareholder Loans for Incorporated Small Business Owners
Essential Facts about Shareholder Loans for Incorporated Small Business Owners

There are three primary ways in which you, as an owner-manager, can  withdraw funds from your corporation.  You can pay yourself a salary, you  can declare a dividend or you can borrow money from the corporation.  When  you borrow money from your own corporation the Canada Revenue Agency  (CRA) has put into place strict rules as to when you have to repay the loan to ensure that the owner-manager does not avoid paying taxes indefinitely. 

Why and How to Transition from a Sole Proprietorship to a Corporation
Why and How to Transition from a Sole Proprietorship to a Corporation

When starting your new business, often it makes sense to choose the simplest structure which is the sole proprietorship. This allows you to test the viability of your business idea and to see if the lifestyle and the related stress that goes along with being a business owner suits your personality and is in line with your long term goals. Alternatively, you might want to keep everything simple and not add any unnecessary complexity. Registering and maintaining a sole proprietorship is fairly straightforward ; many business owners don’t put much thought into the financial aspects of it until tax time (when the mad scramble ensues). Once you have a corporation, however, the level of complexity and commitment increases