Register a Business in BC: Cost, Steps and Tax Accounts

How do you register a business in BC as a sole proprietor?

If you use a business name, registering takes two steps: a name request, then registration with BC Registries. Using only your own legal name needs neither. The government fees total $70, and the registry charges no GST on them (BC steps and fees).

You don't need to live in BC to register a business there, but the BC Services Card login is only for people who live in Canada; if you live abroad, ask BC Registries how to file before you request the name. Tax accounts are separate from registration: BC PST if you sell taxable goods or services and are not a small seller, GST/HST once you pass the small supplier limit, and Form T2125 with your T1 each year.

A case stops being simple when your first T2125 is due, when a partner joins, when both PST and GST/HST apply, when you plan to incorporate soon, or when you move an existing business into BC. Each is covered below.

What to gather:

• Your full legal name and residential address
• Three business name choices, ranked, and later the approved name request number
• A short description of what the business does
• The date you started, or will start, using the name
• A BC Registry account to file online (a BC Services Card account lets you log in if you live in Canada)
• Your expected yearly sales and expected monthly taxable sales, for PST
• A BC driver's licence, BC ID, passport or other government ID, for PST

Do I need to register a business in BC if I use my own name?

No. A sole proprietor doing business under their own name does not need a name request or provincial registration (BC Government).

Any other name, or your name plus "and Company" or another word suggesting more than one owner, needs a name request and registration within 3 months after you first use it. The Act states this duty for a business "for trading, manufacturing or mining purposes" (Partnership Act, s. 88), but BC's guidance asks every sole proprietor using a business name to register (BC Government). Your name plus a word for the work, such as "Jane Chen Bookkeeping", is a grey zone: the Act does not settle it, and BC's name rules say a personal name cannot be used as a sole proprietorship's name. Ask BC Registries before you put it on invoices or a bank account.

How do I register a business name in BC, and what does the name request cost?

Registering a business name starts with a name request, which costs $30 and reserves the approved name for 56 days. Priority service adds $100 to the filing fee. BC's registration page says priority is for approval in 1 to 2 business days, while its fees page lists 5 business days for names, so check current processing times. Before the approval expires, you can ask the registrar to extend it (Partnership Act, s. 89), for another reservation fee (name request form). Once it has expired, you submit, and pay for, a new request (BC Government).

The name approval rules ask for three choices ranked in order. A name needs a distinctive element (such as a place or a made-up word) and a descriptive element (what the business does). Sole proprietorships and general partnerships may not use Ltd., Inc. or Corp.

Two limits catch new owners:

• No name protection. Only incorporated companies, cooperatives and societies get exclusive use of a name.
• Not carried into a company. An approved proprietorship name is not guaranteed approval if you incorporate later.

How do I register the sole proprietorship online or at Service BC?

Register online through the BC Business Registry with a basic or premium BC Registry account, or in person at a Service BC location. Either way the fee is $40. If you live in Canada, a BC Services Card account lets you log in and start online (BC Government).

The registration statement gives the reserved name, the general nature of the business, and your full name and residential address (Partnership Act, s. 88(2)). When it is complete you receive a Statement of Registration and a business number. BC's fee list shows no renewal or annual report for a sole proprietorship. Filing a change is free, but a new business name needs a new name request ($30).

Provincial registration is not a business licence. Ask your municipal or local government whether you need one where you work.

Does registering make my BC business a separate legal person?

No. A sole proprietorship is an unincorporated business owned by one individual, and the owner has no separate legal status from it. The business's risks reach your personal property, and you pay personal income tax on its net income (CRA).

Registration records the name; it does not create a new taxpayer. To weigh a separate entity, see sole proprietorship or corporation and how to incorporate in BC.

Do I need a CRA business number for a BC sole proprietorship?

If you register a business name with BC Registries, the business number (BN) comes with the registration. BC is one of the provinces where you receive a BN when you register, and the BC Government says new businesses get one automatically. The BN alone does not register you for GST/HST or payroll; you add those accounts with the CRA when they apply.

Working under your own name, an unincorporated business needs a BN only when it opens a program account, such as GST/HST or payroll. BC PST registration creates a BN if you have none. If you already have a BN, keep using it: the CRA does not issue a second one to the same business or legal entity.

To add a GST/HST or payroll account yourself, use Business Registration Online. Since July 14, 2026 you reach it by signing in to a CRA account; if you live in BC or Alberta, a provincial partner is another route. If you cannot meet the CRA account requirements, for example as a newcomer who has never filed, or if the business's only owner lives outside Canada, use Form RC1 (CRA).

Do I need to register for BC PST?

Yes, if you are located in BC and sell taxable goods, software or taxable services there in the ordinary course of business, unless you qualify as a small seller. Taxable sales include:

• Selling or leasing taxable goods
• Software
• Taxable services, such as legal, telecommunication and online marketplace services, and repairs, installation or alterations to goods

If you are located outside BC and sell to BC customers, you may also have to register. Registration is online, with eTaxBC for filing, and can take up to 21 business days (BC Government). The general rate is 7%.

A small seller does not have to register. Under Bulletin PST 003, you qualify only if every condition holds, including:

• Retail sales of eligible goods, software and services of $10,000 or less in the previous 12 months, and expected in the next 12 months
• No established business premises, and no regular sales (four or more occasions in 12 months) from commercial premises such as a store, kiosk or market stall
• No wholesale sales in the previous 12 months, and none of the excluded products or roles (such as vehicles, liquor, accommodation, leasing, or installing goods into real property)

For a sole proprietor, registration asks for a BC driver's licence number, BC ID number, or a copy of a passport or other government ID, plus your expected sales. If you must register and don't, you still have to collect and remit PST. BC's planned PST on accounting, architectural, engineering, geoscience, non-residential real estate and security services is paused; see BC PST on services.

When does GST/HST registration start for a BC sole proprietor?

GST/HST is a separate federal registration with the CRA, not part of BC registration or PST. It becomes mandatory once your taxable sales pass $30,000 in one calendar quarter or over four consecutive quarters; you may register earlier by choice (CRA).

The timing rules are in when to register for GST/HST, and which tax to charge each customer is in charging GST/HST, PST and QST by province.

What does a BC sole proprietor file at tax time?

Business income goes on Form T2125, filed with your own T1 return (T4002). Self-employed people generally use a December 31 year-end (T4002, Chapter 1). Another year-end takes an election on Form T1139, filed with your T1 by its due date for the year the business starts (Income Tax Act, s. 249.1(4)).

If a due date falls on a weekend or public holiday, you have until the next business day (CRA dates; T4002). For the expense lines, see self-employed expense lines; for how the profit is taxed, see how self-employed income is taxed; to set up records, see books for a new business.

What changes if a partner joins or I move my business to BC?

A partner turns the business into a general partnership, which is a new registration. Each partner is liable, jointly with the others, for all the firm's debts incurred while a partner, and the partner's estate stays liable after death (Partnership Act, s. 11). BC asks you to register the new business with the same steps and fees, then dissolve the old one (BC Government). The partnership's registration statement is due within 3 months after it forms (Partnership Act, s. 82).

The CRA treats a sole proprietorship becoming a partnership as a change in legal status that you report by phone; in most cases you close the old BN and CRA accounts and register for new ones (CRA). A partnership pays no income tax itself; each partner reports a share (T4002). See a general partnership's first-year return.

Moving in from another province, a registration there does not register the name in BC. BC's Partnership Act sets its own duty: if you trade in BC under a name other than your own legal name, reserve and register it with BC Registries. Your BN stays with you. Review PST from your first BC sale, and see operating in more than one province and province of residence for tax. For the other side, see registering in Ontario or registering in Alberta.

Example

These examples are illustrative; figures are in Canadian dollars.

A Vancouver bookkeeper under her own name

A bookkeeper invoices clients under her own legal name. She files no name request and no BC registration, and pays no registry fee. Her first-year sales are C$24,000, under the C$30,000 GST/HST limit, so she has no program account and no BN yet. Bookkeeping is not on BC's list of taxable services while the planned PST on accounting services is paused, so she does not register for PST. She files her T1 with Form T2125 by June 15 and pays any balance by April 30.

A Kelowna furniture maker trading as "Okanagan Woodworks"

• Year 1: He pays C$30 for a name request and C$40 to register within the 56 days, C$70 in total, and gets a BN with the registration. He expects about C$18,000 of furniture sales, over the C$10,000 small seller limit, so he registers for PST before his first sale and charges it from the start. He sells C$18,000.
• Year 2: By the end of June, his sales over the last four quarters reach C$32,000. He stops being a small supplier at the end of July, so he registers for GST/HST and charges it no later than his first sale after that. He now files PST and GST/HST returns, plus his T1 with Form T2125.

An Ontario sole proprietor moving to BC

A sole proprietor who traded in Ontario as "Lakeshore Signs" moves to Victoria and keeps the name. She files a BC name request and registration (C$70), keeps her existing BN, and registers for PST because she sells printed signs from a storefront, so she is not a small seller. She handles her Ontario registration under Ontario's rules.

Different for you?

• A partner is joining: the business becomes a partnership with new registrations and returns; see a general partnership's first-year return and get individual and self-employed tax help.
• PST and GST/HST both apply: two registrations and two sets of returns; see charging GST/HST, PST and QST by province and set up bookkeeping that tracks both.
• Your first T2125 is coming: see self-employed expense lines and get individual and self-employed tax help.
• You missed PST or GST/HST returns: see missed nil GST/HST and PST returns and get individual and self-employed tax help.
• You may incorporate: compare sole proprietorship or corporation, then incorporate in BC with business formation help.
• You are moving the business between provinces: see operating in more than one province.