Registering a business in BC feels like six separate government agencies who have never spoken to each other, because that is roughly what it is. The good news is the order is fixed and logical: structure first, then name, then the BC Registry, then your CRA business number, then whichever tax and payroll accounts your situation actually needs.
The short version: everyone needs a structure decision and a BC Registry registration. Almost everyone eventually needs a business number. GST is optional until $30,000, PST is not optional at all if you sell something taxable, payroll only matters if you pay someone, and WorkSafeBC is the one people forget until it costs them.
Here is the whole sequence, with the traps at each step.
Our tax services are available in Coquitlam and other regions across British Columbia.
On this page
- The Short Version: Your Registration Order at a Glance
- Step 1: Choose Your Structure First, It Changes Everything Downstream
- Step 2: Register or Incorporate With the BC Registry
- Step 3: Get Your CRA Business Number
- Step 4: GST/HST Account, Register Now or Wait for $30,000?
- Step 5: BC PST Account, When You Must Have One
- Step 6: Payroll Account, Required Before Your First Paycheque
- Step 7: WorkSafeBC, The One Most Owners Forget
- Step 8: Municipal Business Licence
- What You Can Skip in Year One, and What You Cannot
- The 6 Most Expensive Setup Mistakes We See
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Let Us Set It All Up for You
The Short Version: Your Registration Order at a Glance
| Step | What | Who needs it | Typical timing |
| 1 | Choose your structure | Everyone | Before anything else |
| 2 | Name request through BC Registries | Anyone not operating under their own legal name | 1 to 3 weeks |
| 3 | Register or incorporate | Everyone | Same day to a few days |
| 4 | CRA business number | Everyone with tax accounts | Minutes online |
| 5 | GST/HST account (RT) | Mandatory over $30,000, optional below | Minutes |
| 6 | BC PST account | Anyone selling taxable goods or services | Up to 21 business days |
| 7 | Payroll account (RP) | Before your first paycheque | Minutes |
| 8 | WorkSafeBC | Before or as soon as you hire | Same day online |
| 9 | Municipal business licence | Most businesses, including home based | 1 to 4 weeks |
Step 1: Choose Your Structure First, It Changes Everything Downstream
This is not paperwork, it is the decision that determines your tax rate, your liability and how much compliance you carry for the life of the business.
| Sole proprietorship | Partnership | Corporation | |
| Setup cost | Lowest | Low | Highest |
| Liability | You personally | Each partner personally | Limited to the company |
| Tax | Added to your personal return | Split and added to each partner’s return | Separate corporate return, small business rate on active income |
| Losses | Deductible against your other income | Deductible against each partner’s income | Trapped in the company |
| Paperwork | Minimal | Minimal | Annual report, minute book, separate books |
The honest guidance most owners need: if you are testing an idea, expect losses in year one, or earn under roughly $60,000 to $80,000 of business profit, a sole proprietorship usually wins. Once you are consistently profitable, earning more than you personally spend, or taking on real liability, incorporation starts paying for itself through tax deferral and protection.
You can incorporate later. Converting a running sole proprietorship into a corporation is a normal, well trodden transaction. Do not let structure paralysis stop you from starting.
Step 2: Register or Incorporate With the BC Registry
If you are operating under anything other than your own personal legal name, you need a name approval first through BC Registries and Online Services. Submit your name request, wait for approval, then complete the registration.
Rough costs, which are worth checking against the current BC Registries fee schedule before you budget:
- Name request: around $30
- Sole proprietorship or general partnership registration: around $40
- BC company incorporation: around $350, plus the name request
- Annual report for a corporation: a small annual fee, but skipping it long enough gets your company struck from the register
Two things that save pain later. Search your proposed name on OrgBook BC and on the trademarks database before you fall in love with it. And if you incorporate, actually keep your minute book updated from day one rather than reconstructing it three years later when a bank or buyer asks for it.
Step 3: Get Your CRA Business Number
Your business number is the nine digit root that every federal tax account hangs off. Registering through BC Registries usually generates one for you automatically. If it does not, or you are a sole proprietor who registered elsewhere, you can get one directly from CRA online in a few minutes.
The Program Accounts You Attach to It
Each account is the same nine digit BN with a two letter suffix and a four digit reference number.
| Account | Code | When you need it |
| GST/HST | RT | You must collect GST/HST, or you choose to register voluntarily |
| Payroll deductions | RP | You pay salary, wages or a director’s fee |
| Corporation income tax | RC | Your business is incorporated |
| Information returns | RZ | You file T5, T5018 or similar slips |
| Import and export | RM | You import or export goods commercially |
You only open the accounts you actually need. Opening one you do not need means filing returns you did not have to file, and CRA will chase you for them.
Step 4: GST/HST Account, Register Now or Wait for $30,000?
You must register once your worldwide taxable revenue exceeds $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters. Two different timing rules apply depending on how you cross it:
- Over $30,000 in a single calendar quarter. You are registered as of that sale. You must charge GST on the transaction that put you over the line, and every one after it.
- Over $30,000 across several quarters but not in any one quarter. You stay a small supplier until the end of the month following that quarter, then you register.
Taxi and ride share drivers must register from their first fare regardless of revenue.
The more interesting question is whether to register voluntarily before you have to. Registering early lets you claim input tax credits on your startup costs, which for a business buying equipment, software, professional services or leasehold improvements can be thousands of dollars back. The cost is quarterly or annual filings and having to charge 5% to your customers.
The rule of thumb: if your customers are businesses, register immediately, because they claim the GST back and do not care. If your customers are consumers and your startup costs are small, wait until you have to.
Step 5: BC PST Account, When You Must Have One
PST does not work like GST and this catches almost every new owner. There is no $30,000 threshold. If you sell taxable goods, software, accommodation, telecommunication services or one of the listed taxable services in BC, you register before your first taxable sale.
The only exception is the small seller rule, which requires $10,000 or less in gross taxable revenue over a rolling 12 months and no established commercial premises. If you have an office, a storefront or a dedicated sales space at home used more than a handful of times a year, you do not qualify.
Note the October 1, 2026 expansion. Accounting, bookkeeping, engineering, architectural, security and non residential real estate services became taxable on that date. If you are starting one of those businesses, PST registration is part of your setup, not an afterthought.
Register through eTaxBC and allow up to 21 business days for processing.
Step 6: Payroll Account, Required Before Your First Paycheque
If you will pay anyone a salary or wage, including yourself as an employee of your own corporation, you need an RP account open before that first payment goes out.
What comes with it:
- Withhold income tax, CPP and EI from every paycheque
- Add the employer share of CPP and EI on top
- Remit to CRA, usually by the 15th of the month following the payroll
- File T4 slips and the T4 summary by the last day of February each year
Late payroll remittances are among the most aggressively penalised items CRA has, and directors are personally liable for unremitted source deductions. This is not the account to get casual with.
If you pay yourself dividends instead of salary, you do not need an RP account, but you do need to issue a T5 and file the information return.
Step 7: WorkSafeBC, The One Most Owners Forget
If you hire even one worker, you must register with WorkSafeBC, and they expect it within about 10 days of that hire. Coverage is not optional and it is not the same thing as commercial liability insurance.
The part that surprises people: sole proprietors, partners and directors are not automatically covered. If you want coverage for yourself, you buy Personal Optional Protection separately.
The other part that surprises people: if you hire subcontractors who are not registered and covered themselves, WorkSafeBC can treat them as your workers and bill you the premiums on what you paid them. Always get a clearance letter before the final payment goes out.
Registration is free and takes a few minutes online. Premiums are based on your classification unit and your assessable payroll.
Step 8: Municipal Business Licence
Every municipality runs its own system, and yes, home based businesses generally need one too.
- City of North Vancouver and District of North Vancouver issue separate licences, so check which one your address falls in
- Burnaby and Coquitlam both licence home based businesses with conditions on signage, client visits and parking
- Trades and mobile businesses working across the Lower Mainland should look at the Inter Municipal Business Licence, which covers multiple municipalities with one licence instead of buying six
Use BizPaL to generate the list of permits and licences for your specific activity and address. It is one of the few genuinely useful government tools in this process.
What You Can Skip in Year One, and What You Cannot
| Can wait | Cannot wait |
| Trademark registration | WorkSafeBC if you have staff |
| Voluntary GST registration if your customers are consumers | PST registration if you sell anything taxable |
| A full accounting system if you are pre revenue | A separate business bank account |
| Formal shareholder agreements if you are the only shareholder | Payroll account before the first paycheque |
| Professional website and branding | Keeping receipts and records from day one |
That business bank account is not a formality. Commingling personal and business money is the fastest way to lose deductions in a CRA review, and for a corporation it undermines the very separation you paid to create.
The 6 Most Expensive Setup Mistakes We See
- Paying yourself out of the corporation without deciding salary or dividends. Random withdrawals become shareholder loans, and shareholder loans left outstanding past the deadline get added to your personal income.
- Missing WorkSafeBC registration. Retroactive premiums plus penalties, and if someone gets hurt while you are unregistered, the exposure is much worse than the premiums would have been.
- Skipping voluntary GST registration during a heavy spending startup year. The input tax credits on equipment, legal fees and leaseholds are often the biggest cheque a new business could have claimed and did not.
- Assuming PST works like GST. No threshold, no input tax credits, and BC assesses uncollected tax against you personally.
- Registering as a sole proprietor when the business obviously should have been incorporated. A profitable business paying full personal rates for two years before incorporating leaves a lot of deferral on the table.
- Letting the corporate annual report lapse. Miss enough of them and BC strikes your company, which is a genuinely irritating thing to unwind.
If reading that list produced a small feeling of dread, that is normal, and it is exactly the sort of thing worth an hour with someone who does it every week. Our team at MaxPro Financials sets up new BC businesses end to end: structure advice, incorporation, business number and program accounts, PST and GST registration, WorkSafeBC, payroll setup and a bookkeeping system that will not need rebuilding in year two. If you would rather spend your first month selling than filling in government forms, that is what we are for.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I get a business number before I incorporate?
You can, but there is little point. Registering or incorporating through BC Registries generally issues the BN for you, and getting one first often means merging records later.
Do sole proprietors need a business number?
Only when they need a program account attached to it. If you register for GST, hire an employee or file information slips, yes. A sole proprietor with no GST registration and no staff can operate on their SIN alone.
How long does each registration take?
Name request is usually a few days to a few weeks. Incorporation can be same day once the name is approved. CRA business number and program accounts are near instant online. PST takes up to 21 business days. WorkSafeBC is same day. Municipal licences run one to four weeks.
Do I need WorkSafeBC if I have no employees?
Not mandatory. As a sole proprietor, partner or director with no workers, you are not required to register, but you also have no coverage if you are injured. Personal Optional Protection is available and worth pricing, particularly in any trade or physical work.
Do I need a business licence if I work from home?
In most BC municipalities, yes. Home based business licences are cheaper and come with conditions on client visits, signage and parking, but they are still required.
Should I register for GST before I hit $30,000?
If your customers are businesses, almost always yes, because they recover the GST and you recover yours. If your customers are consumers, registering early means a 5% price increase or a 5% margin hit, so wait unless your startup input tax credits are large.
Do I need to register in BC if my company is federally incorporated?
Yes. A federal corporation still has to register extraprovincially in BC to carry on business here.
What is the difference between registering a name and incorporating?
Registering a name simply reserves and records a trade name for a sole proprietorship or partnership. It creates no separate legal entity and no liability protection. Incorporation creates a distinct legal person that owns its own assets and carries its own liabilities.
When is my first corporate tax return due?
Six months after your first fiscal year end for filing. Any balance owing is due two or three months after year end depending on whether the small business deduction applies, so the payment deadline comes before the filing deadline. Plan for the earlier one.
Can I change my fiscal year end later?
Yes, but CRA has to approve it and they will want a business reason. Choosing a sensible year end at the start, ideally at a natural low point in your business cycle, saves that conversation entirely.
Let Us Set It All Up for You
Getting the order right the first time costs a fraction of what unwinding it costs later. Wrong structure, missed registrations, payroll set up incorrectly and a chart of accounts that does not separate PST from GST are all fixable, but they are much cheaper to avoid.
MaxPro Financials works with new business owners across BC and the North Shore on exactly this: choosing between sole proprietorship and incorporation, handling the registrations, opening the right CRA accounts and nothing you do not need, and setting up bookkeeping and payroll so year one closes cleanly. Book a consultation and we will map out your specific list and take the paperwork off your desk.