Me Inc.

It's been an interesting few weeks.

I left my shiny new job in late February, but was promptly offered a contract position with one of the agencies I'd done some work for last September.

The interesting thing about being a contractor with the governmental organization I was with is that they only deal with a certain list of approved vendors. So I've signed up with one of them.

The question during the discussions I had with these contracting firms was - do I incorporate, or do I become a sole proprietorship?

My accountant was in favour of incorporation, as was one friend of mine. Others said sole proprietorship was fine. I was ambivalent because either choice would have been ok by me. That said, the contracting firms had a strong preference dealing with incorporated people (ok), but the clincher for me was that the CRA has been causing problems.

Specifically, the contracting firms like to keep the contractors busy - after all, they get a nice cut of every contract handed out, and the government hands out tons of them. This means that if you're in the right line of work, you can be employed continuously.

In steps the CRA. If you're working continuously care of EmploymentFirmA (EFA), then they can deem that you're a de facto employee of EFA. You can imagine the paperwork and tax headaches this can cause everyone. And has - some of the agencies won't deal with you unless you're incorporated.

So, welcome to Me Inc.