How to Register an Alberta Sole Proprietorship
The Partnership Act (Alberta) governs the registration of Alberta trade names which are also considered to be the same as Alberta sole proprietorships.
The statute says that each person who: (1) is engaged in business for trading, manufacturing, contracting or mining purposes; and (2) is not associated in partnership with any other person or persons and uses as the person’s business name some name or designation other than the person’s own, or the person’s own name with the addition of “and company” or some other word or phrase indicating a plurality of members in a firm; shall file with the Alberta Registrar a declaration in writing of the fact. If you are doing an Alberta Registration it would be a good idea to review the Partnership Act online before you register your sole proprietorship.
In layman’s terms what the statute is trying to say is that any individual who is operating under a name other than his or her own name must register an Alberta sole proprietorship. A sole proprietorship registration in Alberta must be filed six months from the date it commences business in Alberta.
You are not required to provide an Alberta Nuans name search report to register an Alberta Registration such as a sole proprietorship. The Partnership Act (Alberta) has no requirement for an Alberta trade name /Alberta sole proprietorship name to be unique. Any company, sole proprietorship or partnership can register the same Alberta business name at the same time. This does not mean that you should just go ahead and register any name you wish. It is important that you make all attempts to have a distinct name for an Alberta Registration that is very different from all names out there.
The best way to ensure this is to do a preliminary name search Alberta Registration Name before you register your sole proprietorship. A search house can perform this for you. Some search houses charge a small fee for this and others will do this for free when you purchase a sole proprietorship registration service from them.
You do not have to register a name when you carry on business as a sole proprietorship. If you want you can conduct business under your own name. The Alberta government does not allow individuals to register their own names as sole proprietorships. If you require an actual registration to show you are in business you would have to register another name. This might be the case where you are dealing with a client who wants to ensure you have a valid business registration. However, the federal government will issue an individual a Business Number (GST) which will be connected directly to that individual and it is not required that you register a different name to have a Business Number issued to you as a sole proprietor.
You cannot register an Alberta Trade Name or Alberta Sole Proprietorship on your own. You must ask a provider to assist you with the registration. In a way this can be a good thing because the service provider with check your name for you free of charge if you pick a service provider that provides this service. Then you can be assured of having a name that is not a conflict with any other name right across Canada.
In order to terminate your Alberta registration it will be necessary to file a Declaration of Ceasing to Carry on Business under a Trade Name.
When you register an Alberta Trade name it will be registered forever unless you chose to terminate it.
