It is a common misconception that, to do business in Canada you must first register, tell the government right away, do something... You have this great idea or product that you are excited to start selling, you are incurring expenses along the way. You CAN do business.

(!) No need to rush to incorporate. You can start working as a sole proprietorship. This means that you track your income and expenses in some way that works for you (we can talk about that) and then, the income and expenses are included in your personal tax return (the one that is due in April).

(!) If you plan to do business under your personal name, you don't even need to register a name. If you plan to advertise using some other name, you need to register a name, which is only a $60 damage.

(!) Until your sales reach $30K, you don't need to collect HST. Sometimes it is worthwhile to register sooner than later, to be able to claim the HST paid on purchases back. We can talk about that.