Bring the business you already started, and find out where the gaps are

You did not wait for permission. You registered something, started charging, got work. Somewhere in the middle of that a builder asked for a certificate you did not have, or you went looking for your HST number and could not find it, and a quiet worry started: was any of this done properly?

That worry is the subject of every thread below. It is also, in every one of them, a shorter list than it feels like from the inside.

The three walls in every one of these threads

"I started a plumbing business with a business partner and it seemed the best route was to incorporate. Being business noobs I had no idea WSIB was mandatory and even if it wasn't all builders ask for it."

a plumber on r/SmallBusinessCanada

"I started a sole proprietorship in Ontario last year and crossed the $30K threshold, so I've been charging HST. I'm pretty sure I registered for an HST number with the CRA at the time, but now I can't find it anywhere."

a sole proprietor on r/cantax

"I need to incorporate can I just upgrade my sole prop/HST number... What have I totally not considered?"

an owner on r/PersonalFinanceCanada

Missing a requirement nobody mentioned. Losing a number you definitely registered. Not knowing what you have not considered. Nobody is failing here; they are working without a map.

Start by emptying the drawer

Drop in what you already have. The corporation number, the BN, the HST and payroll accounts and the policy dates get read out of the documents rather than typed.

Whatever is in the drawer, the glovebox and the email folder goes in: certificate of incorporation, CRA letter, WSIB clearance, insurance certificates, trade tickets, bylaws. Photos of paper count.

Each one is read and what it contains is pulled out: corporation number, business number, HST and payroll accounts, directors, policy numbers and expiry dates. You review it all before anything is saved. Nothing is typed twice, and the numbers that went missing are usually sitting in a PDF you already had.

Then see exactly what is missing

The point of this is not tidiness, it is the gap analysis. You land on a compliance checklist with the parts you already satisfy already ticked, and the parts you do not clearly not.

That answers the third quote directly. "What have I totally not considered" stops being a worry and becomes a list, in order, with costs beside the items that have them. The plumber above would have seen WSIB sitting unticked before a builder asked him for it, which is the difference between an afternoon and a lost bid.

And the numbers stop going missing

One permanent home for the five numbers every form asks for.

Corporation number, business number, HST account, WSIB account, payroll account. Five numbers, asked for constantly, and stored nowhere in particular.

They live here now, filled in from your documents where they were found, and they are on hand the next time a prequalification form asks for all five at once.

What this is good for even if you are set up properly

A second business. Contractors accumulate them: the operating company, the holdco, the one you started with your brother-in-law. Add another from scratch or bring another one you already own, and switch between them without losing anything.

Files you uploaded and never checked. Documents that went in before you had a checklist can be re-analysed against it, so a certificate you filed in March counts toward the list today.

Before a bid, not after. The most useful moment to look at the gap list is the week before you go after something bigger than usual.

What it costs

Commercial terms depend on the workflow. Review the relevant AEC Stack product page before you start.

Bring your business across with whatever documents you can find in ten minutes. The checklist you land on is the answer to the question you have been avoiding.