g_is_for_canada

I've been here 3 years. I'd love to say I love it, but I'm not going to. It's ok and I probably wouldn't move back to England, but it's nothing like it's cracked up to be in my experience. Better standard of life? Well perhaps for some.

Anyway, I'm about to set up a business here in BC with my former employer. Having had a business in England I always found it surprisingly easy and cost effective, which no doubt encourages more enterprise. In fact I just checked today and it seems that in England you can register a business for 20 quid! And for that you can have an office anywhere as far as I know in UK

Now turn your eyes to the slide marked Starting a Small Business in Vancouver. What will twenty quid get you. Well you can do a name search for a business (if you evade the tax on this). Yep you have to pay for that and pay tax on it. Ludicrous. But if only that was the issue.

There are in fact a ton of extra charges and that's if you go down the cheap skate route and do it yourself. But here's the other thing. There appears not to be such a thing as a Canadian business. Businesses are registered provincially. If you have an HQ in BC and two satellite offices in ON and AB then you'll have to register 3 times. You can alternatively federally register your business but then you can't trade anywhere without registering there too.

What a scam. Registration in BC, which is not the most expensive or cheapest, is going to cost me $700!!!!!!! That's me bumbling along doing it all on my own without lawyer or any other assistance. Get one of those involved and you'll be bankrupt before you began. Ok in the context of everything I'll just pay for the DIY route and be done with it. And there's not a recurring fee (to my knowledge) so I'll probably have forgotten about it within a year or so.

I'm amazed that there isn't any kind of assistance or concession for small companies setting up. Sure I can pay that out of my own pocket but it's not going to leave me with much to run my business. It plummets my business nearly a grand into debt; hardly the kind of start I'm looking for.

I'm putting this here as a practical example of how expensive Canada is. Those that come here with their eyes closed to this fact end up criticizing their own country for the first few weeks, go bankrupt and end up having to return. I've seen this happen time and time again.

Despite extensive research on forums such as this, there seems to be precious little factual information about cost which, had I known it, would have probably swung my choice.

Last time I tried posting a feature like this on another forum they didn't display it. Perhaps that's the problem. Well hopefully it won't happen here.

Rich_007

Like yourself

BC is very tax heavy, there's charges for everything and add on taxes here and there. Hits consumer and business types alike. Without al those taxes, you'd just end up paying in other ways (like higher retail prices) or more directly via salary taxation. No surprises to those who pre-research such facts. It probably nets out to being a zero effect.

Provincial business registrations ? Aw c'mon, get real....the sheer size of the country mean that actually does make sense.

High rate of business failure in BC, no surprise there.

R.

Iain Mc

What are you on about? I got a small business registered and licensed this year in Vancouver, not only was it incredibly easy but it was also cheap as chips! $100 maybe for registration and city licensing (I'm also GST registered)? I'm a sole proprietorship, maybe you're further up the food chain.

I've found the small business support fantastic, with a huge amount of free resources available (have you been to http://www.smallbusinessbc.ca/? The office at waterfront station is very friendly and there are loads of free seminars and the like).

I think I'm living in a different country.

g_is_for_canada

Thanks for the link. It's where I was today and I followed up with their links. $100 sounds like the agent commission. There's BC reg fee of $351 plus a ton of other charges. Comes to around $700. Perhaps the price went up but if I can actually get registered for $100 I'd be delighted.

I'm talking about a limited liability (incorporation) BTW.

Iain Mc

Ah ha, sorry; I'm not sure about the added complexities for incorporation but it's a cinch for a proprietorship.

I've just looked it up in my records: $100 was a tad optimistic, it actually cost me $149 -

$40 for registration
$109 for a business license to trade

(the latter is annual, 2nd and subsequent years are cheaper)

Good luck!

dbd33

It's about $800 to set up a corporation in Ontario but here too you can just register as a sole proprietor at next to no cost. Is it really only twenty quid to set up a limited company in the UK? It seems to me that when we set one up in the Isle of Man ten years ago it cost a great deal more than that.

Purley

In Saskatchewan, and I assume its more or less the same elsewhere, its much more expensive to register a corporation than a business name. Also, both require an annual return to be filed each year. As someone else said, its probably a good idea because of the huge size of Canada. I guess nobody can do anything about that!

JonboyE

The OP must be talking about incorporating for that kind of money. As Iain Mc says, $40 registration, and whatever the City license fees are, is all it costs to get a proprietorship underway.

Incorporation is more expensive in BC than it is in the UK. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. Many people chose to trade through a corporation for the wrong reasons. Unless liability could be a major concern (such as a medical doctor or a building contractor) there is very little benefit in operating through a corporation rather than as a proprietorship.

There may come a point where you have active business income that exceeds your personal needs and a corporation can be effective in deferring some taxes, but at that point the cost of incorporation is a drop in the ocean.

You can incorporate federally rather than provincially, but I don't see much benefit for the vast majority of businesses.

Aviator

I am not sure why there should be concessions, charges are in part based on cost recovery, this is part of the start up costs which should be included in the initial budget. If finances are that tight and it is going have a significant impact on business viability one might have to question whether setting up a business is quite the right move.

The costs are quite clearly outlined on government web sites such as this http://www.bcbusinessregistry.ca/int...trations.htm#8 and help available through local business start up sources. Much of this should be found out in the process of the business plan development, helping make the decision as to how and when to proceed. I would be cautious about information on forums being factual, other than perhaps using links to govt. sites, which would be the only definitives sources of information.

MB-Realtor

I can't remember what registration was in MB, but we have to pay $40 per year to maintain registration.

There is a Business tax of about $195 per month.

Business licensing with the City $1370.00


Its not business friendly here

Iain Mc

But think of all the tax-deductibles.....

theguitardoctor

Is it expensive to be in business as a sole trader or partnership also? Say running a retail store of some description...?

g_is_for_canada

Some good points there. It's not that it's not financially viable but I'm wanting to put my money into ensuring my business starts off on the right footing. Like I say I'll probably just pay it and be done with it, but it seems unreasonable when in UK you can register for so much less.