How to Start a Sole Proprietorship in the Northwest Territories or Nunavut

What a sole proprietorship is up north

It's you, doing business — no corporation, no partners, no legal separation between you and the business. The North adds two wrinkles you don't find in the provinces: everything business-name-related runs through a small territorial registry (not a big provincial one-stop), and your business licence comes from either the territory or your community depending on where you stand. Get those two right and the rest — the CRA business number, GST, payroll — works exactly like it does everywhere else in Canada.

The trade-off in one line: simple and cheap to run, zero liability protection. If the money or the risk gets serious, talk to an accountant about incorporating — and read our federal vs provincial incorporation guide first.

Step 1: Register your business name with the territory

Northwest Territories

If you operate a private business under any name other than your own exact name, you must register that business name with Corporate Registries, part of Legal Registries in the NWT Department of Justice. Corporations are the exception — they register under the Business Corporations Act instead.

The process has two filings:

1. Name search and reservation — submit a Northwest Territories Name Search and Reservation form. Once approved, the name is held for you for 90 days while you register.
2. Application to Register a Business Name — filed with Corporate Registries.

The GNWT's own resource guide lists a $25 fee for the name search and $50 for the registration, with renewal every 4 years — confirm current fees with Corporate Registries (toll-free 1-877-743-3302, corporateregistries@gov.nt.ca) before you file. The office is at the Stuart M. Hodgson Building, 5009 49th Street, Yellowknife, open weekdays 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM. Fees can be paid by cash, cheque, Visa, or Mastercard; forms can be mailed in or delivered in person.

You can search existing NWT business names free through the Corporate Registries Online System before you pick a name — worth the two minutes to avoid a rejected filing.

Nunavut

All businesses operating in Nunavut must be registered with Nunavut Legal Registries, the Corporate Registries division of the Nunavut Department of Justice (nunavutlegalregistries.ca). For a sole proprietorship, you file a Declaration of Use of a Business Name.

The rule mirrors the NWT: operate as just your own name and you need not register; add anything ("Jane Doe & Company", "Arctic Jane Consulting") and you must. Registration puts your business name on the public record maintained by the Legal Registries Office — which is also where anyone doing a contract or payment due-diligence on you will look you up.

Two things to know before you file: the division's public website is mostly a directory of divisions rather than a fee list, so call ahead for the current filing fee; and the office's in-person location has been subject to renovation-related relocations — remote (mail/email) service is available, which is how most founders outside Iqaluit file anyway.

The own-name rule, both territories

Skip name registration entirely if you invoice clients as exactly your legal name — "John Amagoalik" alone. The moment you add words, locations, or anything that suggests more than one person ("Amagoalik & Sons"), you're into registration territory. Note that registration doesn't reserve the name for later incorporation and doesn't protect it outside the territory — see the trademark note in the FAQs.

Step 2: Get the right business licence for your community

This is the step most founders get wrong, because the answer differs by community — not by territory.

Northwest Territories

Under the NWT Business Licence Act, the territorial government (Department of Municipal and Community Affairs) issues business licences only to:

• businesses operating outside community boundaries, and
• businesses in communities that don't issue their own licences — a published list that includes Colville Lake, Dettah, Fort Good Hope, Fort Providence, Fort Resolution, Jean Marie River, Kakisa, Kátł'odeeche, Nahanni Butte, Sambaa K'e, Wrigley, and Lutselk'e.

Every other NWT community issues its own licence — so if you're based in Yellowknife, Hay River, Inuvik, Fort Smith, or Fort Simpson, your licence comes from the community government, not the territory. The territorial licence can be applied for or renewed through the GNWT's online business-licence eService, available 24/7; the application requires a fee and proof of WSCC coverage (more on that below).

Nunavut

If you set up in a community with hamlet, village, town, or city status, you need a business licence from the local municipal office — zoning and bylaws are municipal business too, so check both at once. Iqaluit issues its own under By-Law No. 859: applications and renewals run through the city's online portal, and businesses must hold their current year's licence by February 15 (late renewals carry an extra administrative fee on top of the renewal fee).

Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission (WSCC)

The WSCC covers both territories. If you operate a business in the NWT or Nunavut for more than ten days in a calendar year, you must register with the WSCC — and in the NWT, proof of WSCC coverage is a required attachment on the business-licence application. Self-employed people who don't employ workers or hire contractors are exempt; the day you hire is the day you register.

Step 3: CRA business number and GST

This leg is national, and simpler than in the provinces:

• Get a free CRA business number through the CRA's Business Registration Online — the root identifier for GST, payroll, and import/export accounts.
• Both territories are GST-only: 5%, no territorial sales tax, no HST. Your invoices show 5% GST with your business number, and that's the whole sales-tax picture.
• The $30,000 small-supplier threshold applies the same as everywhere else: over $30,000 in taxable sales across four consecutive calendar quarters (or $30,000 in one quarter) and registration becomes mandatory.

If you cross the threshold, read our GST/HST registration guide for the route-by-route walkthrough — and note that registration timelines differ by method (the online route is the fast one), which we now cover in that guide's timeline section.

Step 4: Nunavut's payroll tax (hire in Nunavut? read this)

If your business hires anyone in Nunavut, you must register for payroll tax with the territorial Department of Finance within 21 days of paying an employee. Nunavut levies its own payroll tax on employment income — it's separate from CPP, EI, and income tax, so add it to your payroll setup the moment you bring on staff, not at year-end. The Northwest Territories has its own payroll tax too: NWT employers with a fixed place of business in the territory who pay remuneration must register for payroll tax within 21 days of first paying remuneration, under the NWT Payroll Tax Act. The tax is 2% of employment income, withheld by the employer and remitted to the GNWT.

The rate is 2% of each employee's taxable remuneration, deducted at source by the employer when the employee is paid. An employee who normally works outside Nunavut owes no tax unless they earn more than $5,000 in Nunavut in a calendar year. Above that amount, tax applies to the full amount earned in Nunavut. Register with Nunavut Finance at PayrollTax@gov.nu.ca. Your business must already be registered and in good standing with Nunavut Legal Registries.

Startup checklist

• Business name registered with the territorial registry (NWT Corporate Registries / Nunavut Legal Registries) — or confirmed exempt as own-name-only
• Business licence from the right office: territorial (MACA) for outside-community NWT, community government for most NWT communities and all Nunavut hamlets/towns/cities
• WSCC registration (if operating 10+ days/year in either territory; self-employed-without-workers exempt)
• CRA business number obtained (free)
• Tracking revenue against the $30,000 rolling threshold; charging 5% GST when registered
• Nunavut payroll tax registration (within 21 days of first hire)
• Invoices show GST separately with your business number; a fixed slice of every invoice set aside for income tax + CPP

Sources: Business registrations — NWT Department of Justice (justice.gov.nt.ca), Corporate Registries — NWT Department of Justice (justice.gov.nt.ca), Business licensing — NWT Municipal and Community Affairs (maca.gov.nt.ca), Legal Registries — Nunavut Department of Justice (nunavutlegalregistries.ca), Starting Your Business in Nunavut — Atuqtuarvik Corporation (atuqtuarvik.com), City of Iqaluit — Business Licence portal (iqaluit.ca), How to Start a Business in Yellowknife: Resource Guide (GNWT), CRA — Register a GST/HST account (Canada.ca).

Related guides

• How to Start a Sole Proprietorship and Get a GST/HST Number in Canada — the national walkthrough this guide builds on: what a sole proprietorship is, the $30,000 rule, and the full tax picture.
• How to Start a Sole Proprietorship in Yukon — the third territory: Yukon's $25 business-name declaration, 3-year registration cycle, municipal licensing, and WCB registration when you hire.
• Do You Need a GST Number as a Sole Proprietor in Canada? — the decision guide: the threshold's two tests and the worked examples that trip people up.
• How to register for GST/HST in Canada — step-by-step registration: the three routes, registration timelines, and the Quebec exception.
• Business Bank Account for Sole Proprietors in Canada — what sole proprietors actually need to open an account: your registration document, SIN vs BN, and the fee picture.
• How to Start a Cleaning Business in Canada — a common first sole-proprietorship business, with the same name registration and GST/HST steps applied to an unlicensed service trade.

Sources

• Government of Nunavut, Payroll Tax. The 2% rate, the $5,000 rule, the 21-day registration window, and the PayrollTax@gov.nu.ca contact.
• Government of Nunavut, Payroll Tax Application for Registration, Oct 2025 (PDF). Registration requires the business to be registered and in good standing with Nunavut Legal Registries.
• GNWT, Payroll Tax for Employers. NWT employers with a fixed place of business who pay remuneration must register within 21 days of first paying remuneration, under the NWT Payroll Tax Act.
• GNWT, Payroll Tax for Employees. NWT payroll tax is 2% of employment income, withheld by the employer and remitted to the GNWT.