Canadian webmasters.

help needed!

[EricPindyck]

I want to incorporate a business to have some legal protection. My concern is do I have to incorporate my company as a federal or provincial corporation? I asked a laywer and he told me that rules for small businesses and ebusinesses are the same, and it depends on where I want to conduct my business!

And now I am even more confused, as I conduct my business all over the internet! selling ebooks and building adsense sites which are hosted in US!

I know it's a legal question and I am looking for a lawyer who is savvy enough not to confuse an e-business (with stock and everything) with an digital product seller, but I was wondering do you guys have any personal experience on this matter?

Thanks

[thgyspsy]

Ok, it all takes a little imagination to get one’s head around this. Legal advice? I suppose. Problem with a lawyer, or any professional is that a ‘conflict of interest’ can lead to skewed truths.

In essence it is the Wild World West. Technically, legal suits and issues are the same. It’s enforcing them that are different. A dispute with a local Ontario distributor is much different than say an online distributor ‘located (domain registered in) Thailand. Sure, you are technically covered contractually, but enforcing a defaulted contract and extracting penalties, is another issue altogether. Certainly not a feasible undertaking to recoup a couple of thousand dollars now is it?

As far as tax law, it is essentially by where your business/domain and OST (Ontario sales tax) are registered. This means that you have to charge customers from Ontario not form other countries and only resubmit on the sales from there.

I could go on; this is a simplified cursory view so you can get a feel for things. A lawyer is great for legal advice, it’s still your job to think of the implications since you are ultimately responsible. I generally don’t advise getting legal advice from forums.

What I mentioned is the basics. If you are strictly doing eBusiness and delivering electronic products, then there really no point in the federal incorporation. Any advice is also speculative not knowing the type and size of the intended business in question. Situations differ.

So there’s the ‘primer’ for you.

[EricPindyck]

thanks for your input. aprreciate it.