A while back I helped a neighbour figure out how to invoice his first few clients. He had been doing the work for months and had never registered anything, because every guide he found was either written for Toronto or written for lawyers. This is the Ottawa version, in the order you actually do things.
Step 1: Decide what you are
Three common structures. A sole proprietorship is you, doing business, possibly under a trade name; simplest and cheapest, but your personal assets are on the line. A partnership is two or more of you; get a written agreement even if you are best friends. A corporation is a separate legal person; more paperwork and cost, but liability protection and tax planning options once profit grows. Most Ottawa storefronts and solo service businesses start as sole proprietors and incorporate later. Consultants selling to government often incorporate from day one because clients expect it.
Step 2: Register the name and the business
Search and register through the Ontario Business Registry. A sole proprietor operating under anything other than their own legal name registers a business name (valid five years). Incorporating provincially is done in the same registry; federal incorporation is through Corporations Canada and makes sense if you will operate across provinces. Do a trademark search too, so you do not build a brand you cannot keep.
Step 3: Get your CRA numbers
Register a Business Number with the Canada Revenue Agency. Add an HST account once revenue will exceed $30,000 in four consecutive quarters, or earlier if you want to claim back the HST on your startup costs. Add a payroll account when you hire. Corporations get a corporate income tax account automatically.
Step 4: Check zoning before you sign a lease
This is where Ottawa gets specific. Not every commercial unit is zoned for every use, and home-based businesses have limits on signage, traffic and staff. Use the City’s zoning map or call 311 and ask for a zoning confirmation on the address before you commit. A lease on a Wellington West unit that cannot legally host your use is an expensive lesson.
Step 5: Get the City of Ottawa licences you need
Ottawa licenses many business types municipally, and the list is longer than people expect: food premises, mobile food vendors, personal services (salons, tattoo, aesthetics), taxis and rideshare, tow trucks, second-hand goods dealers, kennels, rooming houses, short-term rentals, and others. The City’s permits and licences page lists each with fees and requirements. Food businesses also need an Ottawa Public Health inspection before opening and a certified food handler on staff. Anything involving alcohol goes through the provincial AGCO. A sign on the building needs a City sign permit; a patio on the sidewalk needs a right-of-way permit.
Step 6: Building and renovation permits
Changing the use of a space, moving walls, adding a kitchen or touching plumbing and electrical means a building permit from the City. Budget time: weeks, not days. Your landlord and contractor should know this process; if they wave it off, that is a warning sign.
Step 7: Set up the money
Business bank account, business credit card, bookkeeping software, and separate savings accounts for HST and tax. Read the finances starter guide for the full setup. Register with WSIB within 10 days of your first hire.
Step 8: Insurance
Commercial general liability at minimum; your landlord will require it. Property and business interruption for a storefront; professional liability for advice businesses. The insurance guide walks through each.
Step 9: Use the free help
Ottawa is unusually well served. Invest Ottawa runs the region’s Small Business Centre at Bayview Yards: free one-on-one advising, workshops, and programs like Starter Company Plus, which has offered training plus a grant to businesses under five years old. The Ottawa Public Library‘s business librarians have market research databases you would otherwise pay thousands for. Your neighbourhood BIA knows the landlords, the foot traffic and the other owners. The Ottawa Board of Trade is the networking and advocacy layer once you are running.
Step 10: Open, then keep records
Keep every receipt for six years, file HST on time, renew your business name before it lapses, and calendar the annual corporate return if you incorporated. Boring, and the source of most avoidable penalties.
The one-page checklist
- Choose a structure.
- Register in the Ontario Business Registry.
- Get a CRA Business Number (and HST, payroll accounts as needed).
- Confirm zoning for the address.
- Apply for City of Ottawa licences and permits.
- Building permits if renovating.
- Bank accounts and bookkeeping.
- Insurance.
- Book a free advising session with Invest Ottawa.
- Open.
My neighbour did all ten in about three weeks, most of it online. The paperwork is real but finite. The business is the hard part, and that is the part you already know how to do.