May 10
16
Registering an Alberta Small Business
The statute that governs the registration of an Alberta sole proprietorship is the Partnership Act (Alberta). The statute refers to an Alberta sole proprietorship as an Alberta trade name.
The Alberta Partnership Act indicates that any person who (i) is engaged in business for trading, manufacturing, contracting or mining purposes; and (ii) 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. Before you register your Alberta trade name it might be advantageous for you to review the clauses in the Alberta Partnership Act with respect to registering a trade name in Alberta.
In other words, if a person is carrying on business under a name other than his or her own name, you must register a Declaration of Trade Name in order to be in compliance with the laws of Alberta. The Alberta registration must be registered within six months of carrying on business.
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.
First you must determine whether there are any conflicts to the name you wish to use and this is done by having a search house perform a preliminary name search for you. Search houses will usually clear your proposed name for free when you purchase their service to register your sole proprietorship and others will provide you with a preliminary name search for a small fee.
An individual can conduct business as a sole proprietorship by using his or her name and not registering an actual Alberta trade name. In fact the Alberta government will not allow you to register a sole proprietorship under your personal name. In some cases though it might be advantageous to have an Alberta registration in place such as when a corporate client wishes the sole proprietorship to acknowledge he or she has a valid business registration in place or in some cases where ancillary licenses are required for the company and a Alberta registration document must be shown. The federal government does not care if you have a Alberta sole proprietorship registration in place in order to issue you a federal Business Number. The federal business number is connected to the individual rather than the Alberta trade name registration.
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.
If you wish to terminate your Alberta sole proprietorship you must 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.
Resources for Canadian Business Owners can assist you with your Alberta Trade Name and Alberta Business Registration or Preliminary Name Search
