Register a Trade Name

Businesses need to register a trade name or ‘doing business as name’ if they intend to do business with a name different from the company name.
The process is same as registering a sole proprietorship with the only difference that the name is owned by a company instead of an individual.

A BC Trade name is registered with BC OneStop and is owned by one owner company or corporation.

After the registration process you will receive a Statement of registration issues by the BC Registries which will be sufficient to acquire City/Municipality permits & licenses, setup a bank account and to operate the business under this name.

A trade name can generally conduct most types of businesses as well as the actions necessary to conduct the business, like entering into contracts and setting up a bank account to receive cheques and other types of payments & transactions necessary for running a business.

It is the right choice if you have multiple lines of businesses and requires separate documentation and bank accounts.

Checklist

Who can register:

Anyone can register a Trade Name.
Currently there is no citizenship or residency requirement for people who can register it.

What is required to register a Sole Proprietorship:

A name approval number from BC Registries for the Trade Name.
A physical address or street address in the Province of British Columbia where the business is to be carried on.
Name and address of the business owner. This can be an individual or a corporation.

What you get

After registering the Trade Name, you will receive the following as pdf documents by email:

Articles	Sample Docs
Statement of registration	Sample Document
Business Number	Sample Document
Business seal (if included)	Sample Document
CRA Accounts: GST, Payroll, Import-export (if included)	Sample Document
PST Program Account	Sample Document
The Workers’ Compensation Board of BC (WorkSafeBC) registration (if included)	Sample Document

Timeline

We offer 3 Service Queues. Processing time varies based on the availability of the business name approval at the time of placing this order.

Option 1. We submit the name approval to B.C.

Regular Queue: Trade name registration in 4 weeks.
Express Queue: Trade name registration in 2 weeks.
Super-Express Queue: Trade name registration in 1 business day.

Option 2. You already have a Name approved from B.C.

Regular Queue: Trade name registration in 10 business days.
Express Queue: Trade name registration in 2 business days.
Super-Express Queue: Trade name registration in 2 business HOURS.

FAQs

It depends on the purpose of the registration and needs of the individual involved
It the best option for a Self-Employed person operating a business in a small scale.
If you are self-employed and there is no need to separate personal assets from the business, then it the right form of registration.

A Trade Name is a business that is owned by one person.
Easy to setup and start, least expensive to operate.
Easy tax filing process.