Owning a business name is not the privilege of a corporation; a sole proprietorship or a partnership can have a registered business name as well. No matter what business structure you have chosen, the procedures are very similar. This article will teach you how to register a business name in BC. Essentially, there are three steps:
Researching the Desired Names
The first step is to come up with the business names you love and check whether they are taken. If your desired name is similar to that of an active BC corporation, BC Registry will likely reject your application. You could use BC Name Request service to perform a preliminary research.
According to the guidelines provided by BC Registry, your business name should consist of two components:
- The first part of your name should be unique words that identify your business: This could be your name (such as “Sarah’s”), a location (such as “TriCities”) or a made-up word (such as “TaxWise”).
- The second part of the name should be the description of your industry, service, or products (such as “Jewelry” or “Fashion”).
If an existing corporation has the same “part one” as your desired business name, but the 2nd part of the name clearly indicates that you are in different industries, BC Registry can still approve your request. For example, although there is already a Rocky Point Ice Cream Inc., you probably could still register your business name as Rocky Point Constructions.
After performing a name check in BC, we suggest you do a Google search and find out whether somebody in another provinces or even in another country has already been using this name. You should also check whether a suitable domain name still exists. We suggest you register the domain name before obtaining a name approval because the time and cost for a domain name registration are usually much less than the process of registration of your BC business.
Obtaining a Name Approval
Once you are satisfied with your choice of business names, you can submit them to the BC Name Request service to obtain an official approval. You can submit 3 names simultaneously but BC Registries will only approve one, at maximum. Therefore, you should put your favorite one on the top of the list.
Name request costs only $31.50 each time. However, it can take weeks or even months to get the result. You can find the current wait time on the top-right corner of the BC Registry website. If you don’t wish to wait, you could request a quick decision within 48 hours by paying extra $100.
Registering Your Business
Congratulation! You have received a letter or an email informing you that BC Registry has approved your business name. Now you can continue to complete your business registration. Your name approval is valid for 56 days. Look for the expiry date on your name approval and make sure to complete your registration by the expiry date.
You can request a Business Number (BN) during the registration. BC Registry will obtain your BN from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) so you don’t have to call CRA or visit the CRA website.
Sole Proprietorships & Partnerships
You can register your sole proprietorship or partnership online at BC Registry. The fees collected by the BC Government is only $40. The process is quite straightforward so we encourage you to do it yourself.
Guide from BC Registry: Sole proprietorship
Guide from BC Registry: General partnership
If you encounter difficulties to complete the registration, we can assist you with the process, with additional $50 fees.
Corporations
The process of establishing a BC corporation is called “incorporating”. This is a more involved process and we suggest you to do it with a lawyer. We can assist you with the process, but only if the new corporation will be 100% owned by you or your spouse.
Our rate is $200 plus the necessary government fees (currently at $351.50).
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Can Someone Else “Steal” My Business Name?
You may have noticed that the name check is only against active BC corporations. This is not a typo. In BC, only a corporation can enjoy the benefit of name protection. If your business is a sole proprietorship or a partnership, another business can still copy your business name and register itself.
In other words, if you would like to prevent other new businesses from using your business name, the best choice is to form a corporation. Alternatively, you could register a trademark but that route probably costs more than incorporation. That being said, even without a registered trademark, if another business has intentionally misled your customers to use their services or products by pretending to be you, you can still possibly take legal actions against them.