How to Start a Private Practice in Canada (2026): Setup Checklist

Opening a private practice in Canada is ten decisions in a fixed order: structure, registration, college and privacy obligations, a business bank account, the incorporation filing if you chose it, clinic software, accounting, payment rails, the first hire, and the budget. Get the order right and each step feeds the next; get it wrong and you are re-doing paperwork in month four. This page is for a regulated health professional (physiotherapist, RMT, psychotherapist, chiropractor, naturopathic doctor, dietitian, OT, SLP) leaving an employer or a hospital to open their own practice. It is not for clinic chains, and your college's own guidance wins wherever the two differ.

Published August 2026. Every fee, rate and rule below was read at the source named beside it on 11 August 2026. Some links are affiliate links; offers are stated as the partners publish them.

Step 1: Sole proprietor or professional corporation?

Start as a sole proprietor unless you already know the corporation pays for itself. A sole proprietorship costs almost nothing to open, reports on Form T2125 with your personal return (CRA guide T4002), and converts later. A professional corporation adds a second tax return, a minute book and a college certificate of authorization with its own fees: CRPO charges $680 for the initial certificate and $453 a year to renew (fee schedule effective 16 June 2026).

Incorporation is premature when the practice will not earn more than you need to live on, because the main benefit is leaving profit inside the corporation at the small-business rate, and while you are still employed part-time and unsure the practice will stick. Price it once you are consistently banking more than you draw, or once associates arrive. The province rules, share restrictions and tax arithmetic are in our guide to professional corporations for health professionals in Canada; this page does not repeat them.

Step 2: Register the business, the business number and GST/HST

Taxable or exempt turns on sections 7 and 7.1 of Part II of Schedule V to the Excise Tax Act, which exempt services of a licensed practitioner of optometry, chiropractic, physiotherapy, chiropody, podiatry, audiology, speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, psychology, psychotherapy, counselling therapy, midwifery, dietetics, acupuncture and naturopathy. Psychotherapy and counselling therapy were added by Bill C-59, royal assent 20 June 2024; CRA publication 25-3 confirms services supplied on or after that date are exempt where the practitioner is licensed in a regulating province, and that a practitioner whose services are all exempt may close the account. Massage therapy is not on the list, so an RMT registers once taxable billings pass $30,000. The profession-by-profession detail is in GST/HST for health professions in Canada. Our guide to when and how to register for GST/HST walks through the $30,000 test, the effective date and the online registration.

Step 3: College requirements, privacy law and record retention

Your college sets three things a private practice cannot skip, and none is a national number. Two verified examples show the spread.

Liability insurance minimums are set per college

Premiums are quoted by brokers and association programs, not published as one figure, so this page prints none. Get the quote first; the college asks for proof of coverage when you move to independent practice.

Privacy law depends on the province

PIPEDA covers commercial activity federally, but the Office of the Privacy Commissioner lists Alberta, BC and Quebec as having substantially similar private-sector laws, and Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia as having substantially similar health-information laws. An Ontario private practice is a health information custodian under PHIPA; a BC practice falls under PIPA, which applies to every organization; Alberta runs PIPA for private organizations and the Health Information Act for designated custodians, physiotherapists among them since 22 June 2026 (College of Physiotherapists of Alberta). Whatever the statute: a written privacy policy, consent for collection, a breach process, and software that shows you where the data lives.

Record retention runs at least 10 years

The College of Physiotherapists of Ontario requires clinical and financial records kept at least 10 years from the later of the last appointment or the patient's 18th birthday, and notes the Limitations Act allows proceedings up to 15 years after an event. CRPO requires 10 years from the last interaction or the client's 18th birthday, whichever is later. Choose software that exports a full chart; the obligation outlives the subscription.

Step 4: Open a separate business account on day one

Mixing practice income with personal spending is the most expensive bookkeeping habit in clinic files, and the fix costs nothing. For corporations and registered sole proprietors outside Quebec, Venn is the account we recommend: $0 monthly, 2% interest on CAD and USD, 0.45% FX, held at Bank of Montreal with CDIC eligibility, corporations and registered sole proprietors, not available in Quebec, up to $500 in signup bonuses through our link. Venn has no branches, so a practice in Quebec or one that takes cash should open a Big 5 account instead; both routes are priced in our Canadian business banking comparison. Every practice payment leaves that account and nothing personal enters it.

Step 5: If you incorporate, pick the route

One caveat: a health profession corporation carries restrictions in its articles (name, permitted activities, who may hold shares) and needs a certificate of authorization from your college before it may practise. Ownr and Venn file standard corporations, and neither vendor's pricing page says it files a professional corporation's restricted articles. Confirm the provider can file the restricted articles before you pay, or have a lawyer file them and use the online service for the bank account only. The certificate application then goes to your college, with its own fee.

Step 6: Choose the clinic software before you print a business card

Booking, charting, reminders and billing should live in one system from the first patient; migrating charts later is the job nobody finishes. For a Canadian clinic the default is Jane App: one month free with the code LEDGERLOGIC1MO, entered in the Grace code field at signup; Jane runs no free trial and publishes no coupon codes of its own. Pricing in CAD per practitioner licence is Balance $54 (one practitioner, 20 appointments a month), Practice $79 and Thrive $99; additional full-time practitioners are $35 on Practice and $40 on Thrive ($17.50 and $20 part-time). Online booking, charting and 1:1 telehealth are in every plan; the Insurance Billing add-on is $20 a month plus $5 per additional full-time practitioner ($2.50 part-time). To price Jane against Practice Better, Cliniko or Noterro first, the clinic software price index lists every Canadian plan side by side.

Step 7: Set up the books, then hire the CPA once a year

A solo practice does not need a bookkeeper, it needs a bank feed. Xero is the system we run clinic files on: 80% off for 6 months through our partner link, plans $25, $60 and $80 CAD a month, unlimited users, so your CPA logs in without a second licence. QuickBooks Online is the other serious option if your accountant prefers it; choosing before the first invoice matters more than which. Receipts go into Dext: 90% off for 3 months when the 14-day trial starts through the LedgerLogic link; no promo code exists; Business plan $31.50 a month CAD billed annually. Photograph every receipt the day you get it; year-end then costs a CPA hours instead of days.

Step 8: Getting paid: cards, direct billing and fee schedules

Cards: Jane Payments charges 2.75% online and 2.5% on in-person credit cards, Interac debit is $0.10 a transaction, the terminal is a one-time $279 plus tax, and there is no monthly fee (jane.app/payments, Canadian tier). Direct billing: TELUS Health eClaims checks eligibility and submits to participating insurers in real time; registration is free, and it is available across Canada to chiropractors, physiotherapists, psychologists, podiatrists, optometrists and opticians, in select regions to massage therapists, acupuncturists, naturopathic doctors and chiropodists, and to dietitians and speech-language pathologists where the insurer participates. Jane's eClaims integration runs the check and the submission from the schedule. Fee schedules: you set your own prices; your association usually publishes a suggested guide and insurers cap what they reimburse per visit, so set the fee, then check it against the insurers your patients carry.

Step 9: The first hire: employee or contractor, and payroll

Guide RC4110 decides employee versus self-employed on control, ownership of tools, the ability to subcontract, financial risk, investment and the chance of profit or loss, with intent as a tiebreaker; Quebec applies the Civil Code's subordination test. An associate who books through your Jane, uses your rooms, keeps your hours and cannot send a replacement is usually an employee whatever the contract says; a reassessment brings both halves of CPP and EI plus penalties. The splits that survive an audit are in our guide to associate agreements for health clinics in Canada.

Once someone is an employee, open the RP account and run payroll through software that remits. Wagepoint is $20 a month plus $4 per employee for one pay run a month (Solo), or $40 plus $6 for unlimited runs; CPP, EI and income tax calculated and remitted to the CRA; T4, T4A and ROEs filed; syncs to Xero, QuickBooks Online and FreshBooks; a $50 gift card after your first payroll through our link. Jane Payroll exists for Canadian clinics at $40 a month plus $6 per staff member, but not in Quebec. The Canadian payroll price index prices both against the field.

What does the first year cost? (Ontario examples, CAD)

Two worked totals. An Ontario physiotherapist staying a sole proprietor, on Jane Balance and Xero Starter with a trade name: $60 plus $648 plus $648 plus $180 is $1,536 before rent and insurance. The same practitioner incorporating through the Ontario registry, on Jane Practice with insurance billing, Dext and one part-time admin on Wagepoint: $300 plus $648 plus $948 plus $240 plus $180 plus $378 plus $288 is $2,982 before rent, insurance, the NUANS search and the college's professional corporation fee. Neither includes your own draw.

The 30/60/90-day timeline

Can you start while employed? Usually yes: Ontario's Employment Standards Act has prohibited non-compete clauses in employment contracts since 25 October 2021, except for executives and business sales, but non-solicitation clauses remain enforceable and a contract can still restrict outside work, so read it first. Do you need a CPA on day one? No: you need a bank account, a bank feed and the discipline to keep personal spending out of it; the CPA earns the fee at year-end and at the incorporation decision. For a second opinion on structure, ask us.