Hello,

Has anyone had an experience of starting up a small business over here? I've already met with a business/entrepreneur person to get the lowdown on what to do but was curious to hear from others who've done it and how it worked out for them.

What province, what sort of business? How small is small?
Under $50k, under $500k?

A Manitoba business, small as in I will be working on my own offering a support service to different people. I honestly don't expect to make much money to begin with - so definitely way under the $20 grand mark.

Read this link
http://www.gov.mb.ca/business/startingsmart/

Thanks Lancastrian, I've already got that one on the go! My business advisor gave me a booklet to work from too.

Then there is not a lot you need to do. If you are working alone then you only need to collect your money and report nett income. Keep track of income and expenses, you need to keep records for 7 years. No need to register a small home based business.

You do need to check with your municipality for zoning, your home insurer to be sure they are OK with it and get insurance for your business. You may also want to look at WCB for self employed. That is about all you need to do. If you go over $3o you need to register with CRA for a sales tax number, you then charge this on sales and reclaim any paid out as an input tax credit.

The retail sales tax threshold in Manitoba is $10,000. If the OP is providing services he may to need to register. It depends what the services are.