$60, immediate online, good for five years. A business name registration under the Business Names Act tells the public who is behind a trading name. It does not create a company, it does not limit your liability, and it does not give you the name.
Our charges include applicable taxes. Disbursements are extra and billed at cost — itemized upfront, in writing, never hidden.
From $1,128.87 taxes included
A sole proprietor trading under anything other than their own full legal name must register that name. Jane Whitfield operating as Jane Whitfield needs nothing. Jane Whitfield operating as Whitfield Landscaping must register.
General partnerships register their firm name. So do corporations trading under anything other than their exact corporate name — 1234567 Ontario Inc. selling as Riverside Bakery registers Riverside Bakery, and the registration attaches to the corporation, not to a person.
Registration is $60 online through the Ontario Business Registry and takes effect immediately; by mail it is the same fee and about 15 business days. Most people do it when a bank refuses to open an account in the trading name, or a supplier asks for proof of the business, which is usually the first time the requirement becomes real.
It buys disclosure, and it buys the piece of paper banks, suppliers and platforms ask for. It does not buy exclusivity. The registry does not reject your filing because someone else already registered the same name — two identical business names can sit on the register at the same time, held by different people.
It does not create a legal entity either. A registered business name is a name, not a company. If you are a sole proprietor, the business's debts are your debts, its liabilities are your liabilities, and its income goes on your personal return. Registering changes none of that.
And it is public. Anyone can search the register and see who is behind the name — that is the point of the Act. If you were hoping for anonymity, a business name registration is the opposite of it.
A registration lasts five years. Renewal is $60. The renewal option appears in your Ontario Business Registry account about six months before expiry, and you can renew from six months before the expiry date until 60 days after it.
Miss it by more than 60 days and you cannot renew at all — you have to register again from scratch. That matters more than it sounds, because the bank account, the merchant account, the supplier files and the cheques are all in that name, and an expired registration can stall a payout or a loan renewal at exactly the wrong moment.
You also have to report changes — the address, the people behind the business — within 15 days. Registrations go stale quietly. Nothing arrives in the mail in year four to remind you, so put the expiry date in a calendar the day you register.
If you want the name protected against other people using it, that is trademark law, not the Business Names Act. A registered trademark is federal, national and enforceable against infringers. A business name registration is none of those things — it is a disclosure filing.
If you want limited liability, that is incorporation. A great many people register a business name in the belief they have set up a company. They have not. There is no separate legal person until articles are filed.
A sensible common combination: incorporate the company, register the trading name under the corporation so the brand and the legal entity are properly linked, and file a trademark application if the brand is worth defending. Each step solves a different problem and none substitutes for the others.
Generally no. A sole proprietor carrying on business under their own full legal name does not need to register under the Business Names Act. Add anything to it — a descriptor like "Consulting", "& Associates", or a trade name — and registration is required. Partnerships and corporations trading under a name other than their registered or corporate name also have to register.
No. The Ontario Business Registry does not refuse a business name because an identical one already exists, so two people can hold the same registered business name. Rights in a name come from trademark registration under the federal Trademarks Act, or from common law passing-off based on actual reputation and use. If the brand matters commercially, treat trademark clearance and registration as the real protection and the business name filing as paperwork.
Five years. Renewal is $60 and the option appears in your registry account roughly six months before expiry. The renewal window runs from six months before the expiry date to 60 days after it. Once you are more than 60 days past expiry, renewal is closed and you have to file a fresh registration — with all the downstream nuisance of updating the bank and anyone who holds the old registration number.
They answer different questions. Register a name if you want to trade under something other than your legal name and you are comfortable with personal liability for the business. Incorporate if you want a separate legal person, limited liability, the ability to retain and defer profit, or shares you can eventually sell. Many businesses end up doing both — a corporation with a registered trading name.
Our corporate work starts at $1,128.87, taxes included, published on our pricing page. The Ministry's own fee to register or renew a business name is $60 and is billed at cost as a disbursement.
Open your file tonight — a licensed Ontario lawyer will confirm everything with you by tomorrow.