Selling a few prints to friends is one thing. Once strangers are paying you, you're running a business, and there are a few things to set up. Most guides online are written for the US. This one is for Canada, with extra notes for British Columbia, where Nozzlet started.
This guide is general information, not legal, tax, or accounting advice. Rules change and depend on your situation, so check with the CRA, your province, your city, or an accountant.
1. Choose a business structure
Most home print businesses start as a sole proprietorship: you and the business are the same for tax purposes, and you report business income on your personal tax return. It's simple and cheap to start.
A corporation separates the business from you, which can limit personal liability and may have tax advantages as income grows, but it costs more to set up and run. Many makers start as sole proprietors and incorporate later, often on an accountant's advice.
2. Register your business name
If you trade under a name other than your own legal name (for example "Northshore Prints" instead of "Jane Smith"), most provinces require you to register it. In BC, this is done through BC Registries and Online Services.
3. Check for a business licence
Many cities and municipalities require a business licence, including for home-based businesses, and some have rules about home businesses (such as customer visits, signs, or noise). Check your city or regional district's website.
4. GST/HST: the $30,000 rule
You must register for GST/HST once your taxable sales pass $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters (the "small supplier" threshold). Below that, registering is optional.
Why register early anyway?
- You can claim back the GST/HST you pay on business purchases (printers, filament, tools) as input tax credits.
- Business customers may expect it.
Why wait?
- You'll need to charge tax on your sales, file returns, and keep records.
Once registered, GST/HST is collected on top of your price and paid to the CRA. It isn't your income.
5. Provincial sales tax
- BC: PST is 7% on most goods, including 3D prints you sell. You generally must register unless you qualify as a small seller: taxable sales of $10,000 or less in the last 12 months, no established business premises (a regular market stall can count), and a few other conditions. PST you pay on your own supplies is usually a real cost you can't claim back.
- Saskatchewan and Manitoba have their own PST, and Quebec has QST, each with their own rules.
- Ontario and the Atlantic provinces use a single HST instead of separate GST and PST.
- Alberta and the territories have GST only.
6. Income tax and records
Sole proprietors report business income and expenses on their personal return (form T2125). Keep receipts for everything: printers, filament, parts, packaging, shipping, and a share of home costs where allowed. Good records make tax time much easier, and they're also what you need to price properly.
7. Insurance
Home insurance often doesn't cover business activity, including equipment used for business or damage caused by it. Talk to your insurer about a home-business add-on, and consider product liability insurance if you sell items that could fail and hurt someone.
8. Make sure you can sell what you print
A file you downloaded doesn't automatically give you the right to sell prints of it. Read Can you sell prints of models from Printables or Thingiverse? before listing anything you didn't design.
9. Price for profit from day one
Work out your real costs before you set prices, including your time, printer wear, and failed prints. Our complete guide to pricing 3D prints shows how, and the free calculator does the math.
10. Get found
- List your shop on the Nozzlet directory, free on the Basic plan, so local customers can find you.
- Sell online (your own site, Etsy, marketplaces) and locally (markets, word of mouth).
Quick checklist
- Choose a structure (most start as a sole proprietor)
- Register your business name, if not your own name
- Check for a municipal business licence
- Decide on GST/HST registration (required over $30,000)
- Check provincial sales tax (BC PST: small seller rule of $10,000)
- Set up simple bookkeeping and keep every receipt
- Talk to your insurer
- Check you have the right to sell every design
- Price from your real costs
Sources
- CRA GST/HST registration and small supplier threshold ($30,000 over four consecutive quarters)
- BC PST: 7% rate and small seller exemption ($10,000), Province of BC
- BC Registries and Online Services (business name registration)