Tallyfern
Menu

Do Ontario sole proprietors need to register?

A sole proprietorship is a business owned by one person. Ontario calls it the easiest and most common way to start a business. Whether you need to register with Ontario depends mainly on your business name (see below), and GST/HST is a separate question for the CRA.

1. Your business name (Ontario)

  • You need to register your sole proprietorship if you are not using your own name as your business name.
  • Ontario also says: "If your business has employees, facilities, or offices in Ontario, you must register provincially." If that might apply to you, check with ServiceOntario.
  • Registration is online through the Ontario Business Registry. You need a working email address and a valid debit or credit card.
  • The fee for a sole proprietorship is $60.
  • Before you register, you can search the Ontario Business Registry for free to see if a name is already taken.
  • During set-up you will be asked to create an Ontario.ca Login and an Ontario Business Account.
  • You get a 9-digit Ontario Business Identification Number (BIN). This is different from the Business Number (BN) the CRA gives you.

2. Your CRA Business Number (federal)

  • Business Registration Online (BRO) is the CRA's online way to get a business number and certain program accounts, such as GST/HST.
  • You need a CRA account to use BRO.
    • The CRA notes: "You cannot register for a CRA account if you have not filed your taxes or if you have enhanced protection enabled on your account."
  • BRO does not send you your BN: save or print it for your records.
  • Sessions time out after 10 minutes of inactivity, and you can't save partway through.
  • If you can't register online, the CRA says you must mail a form to the CRA.
  • Ontario residents can link from BRO directly to the provincial registration site.

3. GST/HST: when you have to register

  • For most businesses, you are a small supplier if your taxable revenues do not go over $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters. Small suppliers don't have to register, but may register voluntarily.
  • If you go over $30,000 in a single calendar quarter, you have to register and charge GST/HST on the sale that took you over.
  • If you go over $30,000 across the previous four (or fewer) quarters, but not in one quarter, you stop being a small supplier at the end of the month after that quarter.
  • As a sole proprietor, you count revenues (before expenses) from the worldwide taxable supplies of all your businesses and those of your associates (if they were associated at the beginning of the particular calendar quarter). Do not include revenues from supplies of financial services, sales of capital property, and goodwill from the sale of a business.
  • Self-employed taxi and commercial ride-sharing drivers have to register even if they are small suppliers.

Not sure where you stand? Try our free GST/HST threshold checker.

Want the whole setup in one checklist?

Get Registered, Stay Ready (C$13.99) is a PDF checklist and Excel tracker for Ontario sole proprietors: business name registration, CRA Business Number, when to register for GST/HST, and a yearly tax and records calendar. Each fact links to the official page it came from.
Get Registered, Stay Ready, C$13.99 →

Not legal or tax advice. This page can't register, file or decide anything for you. Check the official Ontario and CRA pages, or ask the CRA, ServiceOntario or a qualified accountant. Not affiliated with the Government of Ontario, ServiceOntario or the CRA. Made by Tallyfern with the help of AI tools.