Should you Register or Incorporate Your Small Business?
When embarking on a new business venture one of the first decisions that has to be made is the type of legal structure best suits the needs of the new business. In Canada there are essentially two choices - business registration (sole proprietorship or partnership/unincorporated entity) or incorporation. Like many small business decisions, the answer in not necessarily straightforward and depends on the business owner’s specific set of circumstances:
What Are the Next Steps After Incorporation
Once you have decided to establish a new corporation, there are certain best practices that you should implement to ensure that your corporation runs smoothly right from the beginning. If you are transitioning from a sole proprietorship to a corporation (unincorporated to incorporated entity), there are some additional steps that you need to take. By being proactive, you can turn your mind to your actual business and avoid unpleasant surprises (such as incomprehensible letters from the government and inconvenient deadlines). This article looks at the next steps you need to take after you have incorporated your business.
Essential Facts about Shareholder Loans for Incorporated Small Business Owners
There are three primary ways in which you, as an owner-manager, can withdraw funds from your corporation. You can pay yourself a salary, you can declare a dividend or you can borrow money from the corporation. When you borrow money from your own corporation the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has put into place strict rules as to when you have to repay the loan to ensure that the owner-manager does not avoid paying taxes indefinitely.
Why and How to Transition from a Sole Proprietorship to a Corporation
When starting your new business, often it makes sense to choose the simplest structure which is the sole proprietorship. This allows you to test the viability of your business idea and to see if the lifestyle and the related stress that goes along with being a business owner suits your personality and is in line with your long term goals. Alternatively, you might want to keep everything simple and not add any unnecessary complexity. Registering and maintaining a sole proprietorship is fairly straightforward ; many business owners don’t put much thought into the financial aspects of it until tax time (when the mad scramble ensues). Once you have a corporation, however, the level of complexity and commitment increases
Should You Incorporate Your Rental Property
For anyone looking to build wealth, achieve financial independence and/or retire early (see FIRE movement), it is important to build sources of passive income i.e. streams of income that are generated month to month without having to actively work for them. One of the most popular methods of building passive income is to purchase a property that generates rental income. If done correctly and with some luck, the return on investments (ROI) , which is composed of both rental income and appreciation in the value of the property, can significantly improve your net worth.
An important decisions when purchasing a rental property is whether you should own the property in your own name or purchase it through a corporation. The right decision depends on a variety of factors which are discussed below:
Pros and Cons of Incorporating your small business
The decision to incorporate can be a difficult one that many small businesses face at some point in their lifetime and . Incorporation, literally, represents the creation of a new person. Whereas a sole proprietorship is an extension of one's self, a corporation takes on a life of it's own; it can give birth to subsidiary, marry via a merger and die with a dissolution. It has to file it's own tax return, can be sued and has a set of rules that govern it's existence. Below are some of the points to consider when deciding whether to incorporate:
The Many Hats of Self Employment
Being self employed comes with many benefits. You can sleep in, work in your pyjamas and go shopping in the middle of the day. You no longer have to report to a boss who doesn't really understand what you do or deal with mindless workplace politics. It all sounds wonderful, but unfortunately there are also many challenges. Small business owners have to deal with uncertainty and risk. They need to be disciplined and deal with the many demands that being self employed can impose upon us. In the early stages of self employment, most of us have to take on the responsiblity of fulfilling the administrative functions that you find in a more established business. Some of the skills that you need to develop are: