What You Need to Know Before You Register a Sole Proprietorship in Ontario
The Business Names Act (Ontario) governs the registration of Ontario sole proprietorships. Another name for a Ontario Sole Proprietorship is an Ontario trade name. It would be advisable to read the statute to ensure that you operate your business in compliance with the statute requirements.
The law requires that a person must not give the public the opinion that he or she is carrying on business under another name unless that name has been registered. Further a person must be registered in order to be legally allowed to use a name other than his or her own.
You are not required to provide an Ontario Nuans name search report to register an Ontario sole proprietorship. The Business Names Act (Ontario) has no requirement for an Ontario trade name / Ontario sole proprietorship name to be unique. Any company, sole proprietorship or partnership can register the same Ontario business name at the same time. This does not mean that you should just go ahead and register any name you wish. It is important that you make all attempts to have a distinct name for an Ontario Business Registration that is very different from all names out there.
A preliminary name search should be done to ensure your name is available and a search house can do this for you for a small fee. Many search houses will clear your name in advance for free if you chose their service when registering your Ontario trade name. It is important that you have your name cleared by an experienced search house. These businesses are trained to check out a name right across Canada and clear it for you. Many businesses are doing business online and will do business in other provinces so it is even important that you do not register a name that is the same or close to a name in British Columbia for instance. Attempting to clear your own name without the assistance of a search house can create problems. If you pick a name that is the same as another name the government will not let you know this in advance of registration. Situations have occurred where an individual had to register another name right after registration of a sole proprietorship because he found out after the fact that there was a conflict.
Once you have registered your Ontario business it will stay in place for five years. A Master Business Licence will be issued for the Ontario sole proprietorship. It will be a photocopy and if you order it online from a Ontario service provider it will be sent to you in the form of a pdf. The expiry date of the Ontario business registration will be on the form and you must ensure that you keep track of this since the government will not remind you.
It should be noted that no Ontario company can have the same name. It is only Ontario business names, Ontario sole proprietorships and Ontario partnerships that have no protection for the name.
The Ontario government requires you to inform them of any changes on your Ontario sole proprietorship within 15 days. An amendment to the registration must be filed. What happens if you decide you do not wish to operate your Ontario sole proprietorship under the same name? You will need to register a new Ontario trade name because you cannot amend the name of an Ontario sole proprietorship.
In order to cancel your Ontario sole proprietorship you will need to file a dissolution with the Ontario government.
An Ontario sole proprietorship is not perpetual. It will expiry in five years and that expiry date will be clearly shown on the Master Business Licence. You must set up a tickler to ensure that you renew your business name prior to the five years being up. It is a good idea to re-register a few days before the Ontario sole proprietorship registration expires.
Resources for Canadian Business Owners handles legal and government registrations and can assist you with an Ontario Business Name Registration and Ontario Nuans Name Searches
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