Some individuals start a business operating from their home as opposed to renting space outside their home. What steps should you consider initially?

Type of Business Entity

 Sole Proprietorship

1. The Legal Nature of a Sole Proprietorship

In this form of entity, you are starting a business on your own. You are not creating a corporation (which we will discuss later on).  Instead, you are acting on your own, and are referred to as a “sole proprietor”.

You can give the business a name such as: Joe’s Shoe Store, Sally’s Gourmet Sandwich Shop, etc. If you wish, you can register your business name. To do so, you must file a form with the Provincial Government – Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Affairs – for a minimal fee. Registering a business name under this format does not give you any exclusive rights to that name; however, if the name you register violates a registered trademark of a third party, they may insist that you change your business name.

If you do register a business name you can open a bank account, enter into contracts, send out accounts for services provided and/or for goods supplied under that name. If you do not register a business name, then any of these types of activities will be undertaken in your own personal name instead.

1. Zoning By-Laws, Apartment Rules, Condominium Rules and By-laws

If you live in a home – whether as the Owner or a Tenant – and are planning to operate a home-based business from there, you should check with your Municipality’s Zoning By-laws to see whether they permit the use of your dwelling for these purposes.  This is particularly the case if you will have clients and customers coming to your home to consult with you and/or to purchase goods from you. Note that Zoning By-laws can also be specific in restricting activity: You may be permitted the use of the dwelling as a psychiatrist’s office, but may not be permitted to use it as a hair stylist’s salon.

If you are a Tenant in a home, then in addition to the Municipal By-laws you will also need to be concerned about the terms of your Lease, which may prohibit you from carrying  on a business from the premises you are renting. These issues will be especially relevant if you are a Tenant in an Apartment Building. You must check your Lease and the Apartment Building’s Rules and Regulations.

Finally, if you reside in a Condominium, whether as the Owner or a Tenant, in addition to the Lease and the local Municipal Zoning By-Laws you must also clarify whether the Condominium’s Declaration, By-laws and/or Rules and Regulations permit you to carry on any type of business in or from within the Condominium Unit. For the most part any business or service involving clients and customers coming to your Unit in a Condominium will be prohibited.

1. Banking

After registering the business name, one of the next steps is to open a business account with your financial institution, whether it is a Bank, Credit Union, or Caisse Populaire. Make an appointment with an appropriate banking official ahead of time, rather than just walking into the branch without having an appointment.

1. GST/HST and Provincial Sales Tax

If you are running a business, your obligation to pay HST is triggered once your business’ revenues, be they in the form of sales of goods, or billings for the provision of services, exceeds $30,000 annually.  At this point you are required to register for an HST number and charge, collect and remit GST/HST to the Canada Revenue Agency on a regular basis.

Depending on the nature of the goods you sell and the services you provide, you may be required to charge, collect and remit Provincial Sales Taxes as well.

1. Financial Reporting

Just as an individual must report his or her income to the Canada Revenue Agency, any business must also report its income as well. As a sole proprietor your business income is simply reported on your personal Income Tax Return under the “Business Income” category. In this regard, you must report all sales and services billed income from which you can deduct all related expenses. In addition to specific business expenses such as equipment and machinery purchases, cost of materials, supplies, and goods for resale (if applicable). Phone expenses for a specific business phone, office supplies, automobile expenses solely related to business-related use, and a maximum of 50% of entertainment and meal expenses – again, solely incurred for business purposes – can be deducted from the business income. When your business is home-based you can claim a certain percentage of your home’s expenses as a business expense.

The formula to determine what percentage of your home’s expenses can be claimed as business expenses is generally based on the percentage that your office space takes up, relative to the total area of your home. Some of the expenses which can be claimed are:

1. Mortgage interest (but not mortgage principal), if you own a dwelling;
2. Rent, if your home, apartment or condominium unit is rented;
3. Insurance on your dwelling;
4. Property taxes;
5. Utilities;
6. Maintenance and repairs;
7. Phone if you use your own personal home phone number rather than a dedicated business phone line.

Type of Business Entity 

Incorporation

Next to a sole proprietorship, the other common form of business entity is a corporation. This is an entity which is created by preparing and filing a Corporation Application with the Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Affairs.

A corporation is a legal separate entity, existing entirely apart from the individual person; it is the corporation that carries on the business, not the individual who incorporated the business. This is the most significant difference between a sole proprietorship and a corporation.

Although the corporation is conceptually a separate entity, it requires the participation of humans to make decisions and get things done.  This is achieved through the roles of a corporate Director, President, Secretary and Treasurer. In a smaller, home-run business, you may serve all of these roles yourself; however you are still not personally responsible for the corporation’s debts.

With that said, there are various instances where you may indeed be personally liable; for example where:

• the corporation’s bank requires you as the incorporator to personally guarantee loans (also known as lines of credit) given to the corporation;
• a supplier insistson you to personally guarantee payment for goods and/or services provided to the Corporation; or
• the corporation owes taxes and you are called upon to pay them, etc.

While I have only briefly discussed corporations, a number of proprietorship issues which I have commented on are also applicable to home-based corporate businesses.

The Bottom Line

In summary, if you decide to start up a home-based business, whether it’s a proprietorship or a corporation, there are many factors to consider and matters to be looked into and researched thoroughly.

I always recommend talking to:

• your accountant (not a bookkeeper) for initial financial and business advice;
• your lawyer for legal and business advice and assistance in creating the entity; and
• your banker for banking and financial advice.

I feel it is important to note that some accountants attempt to do what is actually lawyer’s work… their work and sphere of activity is distinctly different than that of a lawyer and should be dealt with accordingly.

Good luck on your new home-based business!