A general partnership is a type of unincorporated business that has two or more owners. The owners of a general partnership can be individuals, corporations or other unincorporated businesses.
Step 1 – Contact Information
To complete this application, we need the contact information of a person who will receive the registration documents and can answer any questions we may have. Please provide the full name, phone number, and email address. This information will be kept confidential and will not appear on the public record.
Step 2 – Proposed Business Name
It is your responsibility to make sure that your business name is in accordance with the requirements of the BNA and the regulations. A name that violates the BNA or the regulations may face compliance action at any time, which could lead to cancellation.
A preliminary name search will check the proposed name against existing business names, corporations and trademarks that may cause conflict. It is not an exhaustive search and you are solely responsible for use of the proposed name.
Step 3 – General Details
The main activity that you do under the name of your business is your primary activity.
NAICS is the North American Industry Classification System. It is a system that assigns a 2 to 6 digit number code to a business based on its main activity. You can find the NAICS code for your business by following the NAICS link and choosing the code that matches your primary activity. For instance, if your business is a unisex hair salon, your NAICS code could be “812116 – unisex hair stylist shops”. The NAICS code is mandatory for filings under the Business Names Act and Limited Partnerships Act, and it will appear on the public record for those filings.
Official Email Address
You will receive business communications through the official email. We will also send the documents for this application to the official email and the contact person’s email from Section 1 of this form.
Step 4 – Address of Principal Place of Business
You need to provide the address of your main place of business in Ontario. If you don’t have one in Ontario, you need to give the address of your main place of business outside Ontario. If your address is international and you don’t have a “Region” to fill in, please use ‘Parish,’ ‘County’ or something similar in the “Region” field. This also applies to any other international address on the form.
Step 5 – Partners
The number of partners is a mandatory field. You need at least two partners to form a partnership. If the number of partners is more than 10, you can choose to provide information only for one partner, called the designated partner, under these conditions:
– The partnership’s main office is in Ontario.
– The designated partner agrees to keep the partnership records.
If the partnership’s main office is not in Ontario, the designated partner must keep the partnership records at their service address in Ontario.
Step 6 – Authorization
The person authorizing the registration can be one of the partners, or a person acting under power of attorney.
A person acting under power of attorney could be an individual, corporation or registered entity (any registration with a Business Identification Number (BIN)), or an ‘other’ entity.
Individual: set out the full name and address for service in Ontario.
Corporation or Registered entity: set out the name and OCN or BIN, as applicable, and its address for service in Ontario. Also set out the full name and position of the person representing the corporation or registered entity.
Other: set out the name of the entity, address for service, and the full name and position of the individual representing the ‘other ‘entity.
