Book Consultation

Accounting, bookkeeping and tax professionals serving individuals and owner-managed businesses across Langley and the Fraser Valley.

Get In Touch

Email contact@pactservices.ca
Phone 250-819-5344
Office 8661 201 Street, 2nd Floor, Langley, BC V2Y 0G9
Business Registration

Business Registration & Incorporation

Starting a business in British Columbia involves a handful of decisions that are cheap to make correctly at the beginning and expensive to unwind later: the structure you operate under, the province you register in, the program accounts you open with CRA, and the year-end date you choose for a corporation.

We handle the registration itself and the compliance set-up behind it, so that your first year does not begin with a missing GST account, a payroll account nobody opened, or a fiscal year-end that falls in your busiest month.

Sole Proprietorship

Name approval and registration for owners who want to start simply, with a clear explanation of what it does and does not protect.

BC Incorporation

Incorporation with the BC registry, share structure set up sensibly, and the opening balance sheet documented from day one.

CRA Program Accounts

Business number plus the corporate income tax, GST/HST and payroll accounts you actually need, opened and confirmed.

Minute Book & Records

Share register, directors’ resolutions and the corporate records a lender, a buyer or an auditor will eventually ask to see.

Should You Incorporate?

Incorporation gives you limited liability, a lower tax rate on retained profits and the ability to control when income lands on your personal return. It also brings a second tax return, higher accounting fees, annual registry filings and a shareholder loan account that has to be watched. The benefit is real once profits exceed what you need to draw personally; below that, the cost usually outweighs it.

We model your projected income under both structures — including the small business deduction, personal tax on what you actually take out, CPP and the additional compliance cost — and give you the difference in dollars. It is an arithmetic question, and you should see the arithmetic before you decide.

Business Registration at PACT Professional Services
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Business Registration: your questions answered

Name approval through the BC registry usually takes a few business days, and incorporation itself can be completed the same day approval comes through. CRA program accounts follow immediately after.

Our professional fee plus the provincial registry fees, which are set by the government and change from time to time. Both are shown separately in your quote and in our fee calculator, so you can see what is ours and what is the registry’s.

You can, and some people do it well. The problems we see are share structures that block future income splitting, no record of assets transferred into the company, and program accounts that were never opened. Those are the parts worth paying for.

Any date within fifty-three weeks of incorporation. Choosing a quiet month makes the year-end easier to prepare, and a date a few months after your busiest season can help with the timing of tax payments.

Only if you carry on business there in a meaningful way — a physical location, staff or a permanent presence. Selling to customers in another province does not by itself require extra-provincial registration, though it may affect sales tax.

MORE FROM PACT

Other Services

Personal Tax Returns

T1 returns for employees, families, seniors, students, investors and the self-employed.

Corporate Tax Returns

T2 preparation and filing for incorporated businesses, with year-end adjustments and owner compensation planning.

Bookkeeping

Monthly or quarterly bookkeeping, reconciliations and statements you can actually read.

Payroll Services

Pay runs, source deductions, T4 and T5 slips, records of employment and WorkSafeBC reporting.

GST/PST Filing

Registration, input tax credit review and on-time filing of GST/HST and BC PST returns.

CRA Audit Support

Representation for reviews and audits, back-filing of late returns and payment arrangements.

Financial Statements

Notice to reader statements, cash-flow reporting and the numbers your bank or lender asks for.

Trusted accounting & tax advisors for your business

Book a no-obligation consultation and we will review your books, your filing history
and the deadlines ahead of you.

Our Services Book Consultation