specifically, mississauga... Im wondering if its legal to sell a piece of software online, under a different name, if I claim all the income as person income and keep everything well documented.

anyone know?

You should really talk with an accountant. Many will offer a free first session. But, what I think you're trying to set up is a sole proprietorship. The short answer, is yes you can do that. For the long answer, go talk with an accountant.

legal ramifications of a partnership is not benefitial to my business plan... Im just looking to sell for a bit to raise money so that I can get this going from the ground up with little outside money invested (being a student and all)

I'm in Quebec, so we have a different set of civil laws than the rest of Canada, but basically, here is how business is layered in our beautiful Canuckistan :
sole proprietorship : you are the company. If you operate under your own name, there are no fees involved, no registration, etc. (what most self employed people do).
If you want to use a company name, you have to do the Ontario dance for that, and there will be a small fee involved (35 bucks in Quebec) to register the sole proprietorship and company name.
At this point, the company is still you, and its debts are still your personal debts.

Next option is the General Partnership. which like DavidRM in his book, I totally discourage you from exploring : it has all the problems of sole proprietorship, on top of making you liable for your partner's f**k ups...
In this case, you have to register a company name as above, AND see a lawyer to set up the partnership contract.
Again, bad, bad, bad, as you could be made to paid for all the company's debt, and then have to recoup from your partners... BAD :)

Then there are corporations : in quebec, we have both provincial and federal level corps. There is no such thing a LLCs in Canada anymore, afaik, although a Quebec Provincial corporation can use the limited suffix in its name instead of inc, but that doesn't apply to you :)

I would do a google on business in Ontario. which should give you a link to the relevant ministry's website

HTH

yeah I have learned about sole proprieter and sole partnerships, and the partnership is horrible because yes your personal networth is at stake, even if your partner incurs debt, and that is horribly bad, who even cares about the other problems :) thats just one to stay away from.

but can I and a partner sell software under a company name (assuming we have a contract between us stating what each of us gets from the personal sales), and then claim this money as personal income, and not use the company for any specific company benefits at all... and therefore no need to incorporate... at least not for a little while.

If you guys operate as one single entity, you have no choice but to file a company's earnings declaration, before splitting the profits.
Now, you may do what I've done with American colleagues/partners, and is each work under your own sole proprietorship, be it under your name or a company's name, and split the revenues as they come in, each declaring half of the revenues as your earning.
Thing is, you can't operate under just one name if you do this : what you describe is a general partnership, and that's what we're trying to steer ourselves away from :)

In other words, the only way to operate under a company name, legally, if there are more than one person involved, is either a general partnership with a written contract done at your lawyer's or notary, or incorporation.
Otherwise, you're going to each operate under your own name, or sole proprietorship name, ie brougth to you by ThisCompany and That Company.

hmmm, so I could do it without incorporating and sell under a different name, if we each had our own "company" and then later could merge them... but then we'd be rebuilding the brand... so there is no way to sell it for a bit to be able to pay for incorporation.... Im trying to do this ground up without debts...

I currently have a sole proprietorship that I don't run under my personal name. I just had to register the name with the Ontario government. "Doing business as" or something like that.

I used to have a corporation with a partner, and I wish I hadn't done that. We incorporated way too soon. The hassles of registering the corporation and doing the taxes every year and then dissolving the corporation were all a big pain.

Now that I'm starting a business by myself, I plan to do it as a sole proprietorship for a while until I make enough money to pay someone else to worry about those things for me.

henning

yeah I realize thats gonna be a big pain, but its part of the learning experience... and its apparently not too bad incorporating now, Ive been reading and it looks like you can even do it all online now?

I always thought you needed a lawyer and whatnot, but apparently that only applies to things like doctors, insurance, and whatnot... not manufacturing/retail/wholesale...

unless Im confused

No, you don't need a lawyer. I did it myself. Saves a lot of money. But a lawyer might tell you all the stuff you have to do each year to stay on the government's good side.