Starting out

New business checklist for Ontario

The registrations, accounts and habits a new Ontario business needs in its first months, in the order they usually happen. Most items take an hour; the expensive ones are the ones left until a deadline has passed.

Download as PDFOne page, prints on Letter.

Items marked with a threshold or a deadline come from the linked CRA and Ontario pages. The rest is how we set up a new client.

Structure and registration

Decide between a sole proprietorship and a corporation with your accountant and lawyer
Register the business name, or incorporate, through the Ontario Business Registry, and keep the company key
Choose a year-end date; December 31 is usual but not required for a corporation
Open a business bank account, and keep personal spending out of it from the first day
Minute book, share register and directors' resolutions set up, if incorporated

CRA accounts

Business number from the CRA
Corporation income tax program account, if incorporated
GST/HST account: required within 29 days of exceeding $30,000 in taxable sales in four consecutive quarters or in one quarter; optional before that
Payroll account, before the first pay run
Import-export account, if goods will cross the border
CRA My Business Account set up, and your accountant authorised as a representative

Before the first hire

Payroll account open and the remittance schedule known
TD1 federal and Ontario forms from each employee
CPP, EI and income tax deductions set up in the payroll system
WSIB registration where the business is required to register
Employee or contractor decided for each person, with the reasoning kept
Pay dates and the remittance dates that follow them on the calendar

Books and records

Accounting system chosen and the chart of accounts set up for how you will run the business
Bank and credit card feeds connected; receipts attached to entries as they arrive
Sales invoices numbered, with the HST number shown once registered
A monthly close date agreed, and reconciliations done every month from month one
Records kept for six years from the end of the tax year they relate to

The first year's calendar

HST return dates for the reporting period the CRA assigns
Payroll remittance dates and the T4 deadline at the end of February
T2 return due six months after year-end; the balance owing is generally due earlier
Ontario annual return within six months of year-end, through the Ontario Business Registry
Instalments, once the CRA asks for them
An autumn planning conversation before the first year-end

This checklist describes general steps for a new Ontario business. It is not legal advice; incorporation, employment and licensing questions should go to a lawyer, and municipal licences vary by city.

Sources

The thresholds and deadlines above (the $30,000 small supplier rule and the 29 days, GST/HST reporting periods, TD1 forms, payroll remittances, slip deadlines, the six-year records rule, the T2 due date, the Ontario annual return) come from these official pages:

Starting a business: what to do in the first months