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Running one here

The Start page is for year one. This is for year six: the hours you may open, the levies and taxes, the filings with a penalty attached, and the parts of the by-laws that decide whether your patio, your sign or your Saturday night is legal.

Checked September 19, 202611 parts10 City Hall answers23 dates added to the calendar

Part 1

Hours and holidays

Sunday shopping is unrestricted in Fredericton under By-law R-12, with one exception: no retail may open on Easter Sunday ($500 to $1,000 fine). The province’s Days of Rest Act closes retail on eleven prescribed days: New Year’s, Family Day, Good Friday, Victoria Day, Canada Day, New Brunswick Day, Labour Day, Thanksgiving, Remembrance Day, Christmas and Boxing Day. Exempt: restaurants, hotels and pubs, gas stations, garden centres, farm stands, drugstores under 850 square metres, antique and craft shops, flea markets, NB Liquor, and shops with three people or fewer selling mainly food, papers, tobacco or confectionery. Only eight of those days are paid public holidays under the Employment Standards Act: Boxing Day, Victoria Day and Thanksgiving are not.

Part 2

Property tax, assessment, and the review window

The City’s 2026 rate inside the old boundary is $1.3086 per $100 of assessment, unchanged from 2025; non-residential property pays a multiple of that (the province’s 2026 table shows Fredericton at 1.7 times), plus the provincial non-residential rate, plus the 20-cent BIA levy if you are inside a district. Assessment notices now arrive in January (January 19 in 2026) and you have 30 days from the mailing date to file a free Request for Review online or at 1-888-762-8600; miss it and you are arguing next year. Bills come in March and are due May 31, after which interest runs at 0.7591 percent a month. The province’s 2026 assessment review produced 39 recommendations; legislation is coming, so expect the rules to move.

Part 3

The accommodation levy

If you rent rooms in a building with six or more units (hotels, motels, inns, B&Bs, hostels, and a short-term-rental operation at that scale), By-law R-13 adds 3.5 percent to every stay of 31 days or fewer. You report by the 15th of the following month and pay by the last day of it, to the City. Late payment costs 1.5 percent a month; skipping it altogether is a summary-conviction offence with a $500 minimum. Students in term, stays over 31 days, emergency shelter rooms and campgrounds are exempt. A single-unit Airbnb is outside the by-law’s definition.

Part 4

Payroll, filings, and the penalties attached

T4 slips and the summary are due the last day of February, which for 2026 slips means Monday, March 1, 2027; electronic filing is mandatory above five slips and the late penalty starts at $100. A Record of Employment goes out within five calendar days of the end of the pay period in which someone stops working. WorkSafeNB’s Form 100 payroll report is due at the end of February too; the 2026 average assessment rate is $1.10 per $100 of payroll (restaurants $0.66, offices $0.27). Regular payroll remitters pay the CRA by the 15th of the following month. HST: quarterly filers have one month after the quarter; annual filers with a December year-end pay by April 30 and file by June 15 as a sole proprietor, or file and pay by March 31 as a corporation. The T2 is due June 30 for a December year-end, with the balance due March 1 or, for most small CCPCs, March 31. Small-business tax is 9 percent federal plus 2.5 percent provincial on the first $500,000; the March 2026 provincial budget changed nothing.

Part 5

The annual return that dissolves you

A New Brunswick corporation files an annual return with the Corporate Registry within 30 days of its anniversary date, $60 online or $80 on paper; the registry sends the form about a month ahead. Miss it and the corporation is “non-current” immediately; miss two years and, after a final notice, the province dissolves it. Reviving a dissolved corporation costs $262 and a great deal of explaining to your bank.

Part 6

Employment standards, in one paragraph

Minimum wage has been $15.90 since April 1, 2026, and the province is consulting (until October 9) on how the April 2027 figure is set, so the automatic inflation formula is itself under review. Eight paid public holidays, for staff with 90 days’ service. Vacation is two weeks or four percent under eight years’ service, three weeks or six percent after. Staff may refuse Sunday work with 14 days’ notice. Notice of termination runs from nothing under six months to two weeks up to five years and four weeks beyond; the Employment Standards Branch answers at 1-888-452-2687.

Part 7

Parking, for you and your customers

Monthly permits: $140 at the East End Garage (24 hours), $130 at the York Street Carpark and Frederick Square. They are virtual, tied to a HotSpot account, sold in limited numbers first come first served, and go on sale at 7 a.m. five days before each month. Surface lots at Officers’ Square and the Tannery went to $2.50 an hour on July 1, 2026. The overnight parking ban runs October 1 to May 31, midnight to 7 a.m., snow or no snow, on streets and surface lots: $50 and a tow. Meters are the City’s; the quieter perk is that the City clears every sidewalk, downtown first, and asks only that you do not push your lot’s snow onto the street.

Part 8

Selling to the City

Tenders and RFPs post on the province’s New Brunswick Opportunities Network; registering with the City is not required but registering on NBON is how you hear about them. For the eight cities, public solicitation is mandatory at $139,000 for goods and services and $347,400 for construction (thresholds effective January 1, 2026); below that, the City invites bids, and being known to [email protected] is how you get invited.

Part 9

Garbage, recycling, and noise

City collection is residential only (single and double units, townhouses, buildings up to four apartments); commercial premises contract a private hauler and tip at Fredericton Region Solid Waste on Alison Boulevard (506-453-9938). Noise By-law S-17 allows construction equipment and “vehicles of business and trade” from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday to Saturday, with a $250 voluntary penalty. A proposed amendment, S-17.2, posted this month, would add zone-based hours for amplified sound: to midnight in the busiest zone, 11 p.m. and 10 p.m. in the others. If you run a patio or a stage, read it before council does.

Part 10

The licences somebody does issue

The City licenses taxis (driver $77.50 with photo ID, owner $116, business $105; yearly from the anniversary), pawnbrokers and second-hand dealers ($100, expiring December 31), sidewalk cafés (Community Planning, form MOB-FRM-012E) and every new or replacement sign (Zoning By-law Z-5, Section 6, which also has a sandwich-board clause worth reading before you put an A-frame on Queen Street). The province licenses food premises: $50 for a store that only handles packaged food, $265 to prepare, $350 to process or wholesale, with one to three unannounced inspections a year posted online. Liquor licences come from Gaming Control and Licensing Services: dining room $500, lounge $500 or $1,000 by seats, wine serving $100, special event $150 a day.

Part 11

Selling the business, eventually

Three quarters of Canadian owners plan to exit within a decade and nine percent have a written plan, by CFIB’s count, and Fredericton’s Main Street and Queen Street are not exceptions. The Chamber’s Succession Connect, which matched newcomer buyers with retiring owners, has not been updated since its 2016 launch, so ask the Chamber whether it still runs. The working route is Business Atlantic, the CBDC network’s buy-and-sell service, and your accountant a year earlier than feels necessary.

Checked

Every figure on this page was read off the linked primary source on September 19, 2026. Fees, thresholds and intake windows move; the sources are there so you can check the day you need them, and if we are wrong, tell us.

The short version

Ten things City Hall makes you dig for

Plain-language answers, checked against the primary source on September 19, 2026. Patios, signs, sidewalks, parking, the levy, hiring.

01Do I need a City of Fredericton business licence?

Probably not, and this surprises people. Fredericton has no general business licence; the City’s permits page simply points you to BizPaL, the federal-provincial-municipal permit finder, with a reminder that it is your job to make sure you have everything. What the City does license is specific trades: peddlers, taxis and vehicles for hire, pawnbrokers and second-hand dealers, plumbers. Your real to-do list is provincial: register the name or incorporate through Service New Brunswick, then sort zoning, signs and building permits with Community Planning. Service Fredericton, 506-460-2020, is the number for everything else.

Sources: City permits & licences

02How do I get a patio permit downtown, and when does the season end?

Send the Sidewalk Café Application to Community Planning ([email protected]) with a scaled site plan, a $2-million liability certificate naming the City, and sign-offs from Public Health, liquor licensing and the Fire Marshal where they apply. Keep a 2-metre clear path between café and curb and 1.1 metres to your door. If the patio eats parking, it is $500 for one space or $1,000 for two. Patios traditionally come down by September 30; Council stretched that to October 15 in 2020, so confirm this year’s date with Planning before you order the heaters.

Sources: Sidewalk café permits

03What are the rules for a storefront sign?

Every new or replacement sign needs a permit under Section 6 of Zoning By-law Z-5, which sets the size, type and placement allowed in each zone. Apply with the Sign Permit Application to Community Planning at City Hall, 397 Queen Street, with drawings that show dimensions, materials, lighting and where it sits on the building. Downtown, expect an extra look at anything on a heritage facade. The City publishes no fee on the sign page, so ask before you order the sign, not after. Landlords often have their own sign rules in the lease, which is a second conversation.

Sources: Sign permits

04Who clears the sidewalk in front of my shop?

The City does, which is one of Fredericton’s quiet perks. Crews clear all 263 kilometres of sidewalk, downtown sits at Priority 1, and everything is meant to be done within 48 hours of a storm ending. Your obligations are mostly negative: do not push or pile snow onto the street or sidewalk, and keep your own entrance, steps and private walkway safe, since a slip at your door is your liability. The overnight winter parking ban runs midnight to 7 a.m. through May 31, and it applies to your customers’ cars and yours.

Sources: Snow removal

05What is the DFI levy and who pays it?

If your business or building sits inside the Business Improvement Area (Government House to the Walking Bridge, river to mid-block between Brunswick and George), you are a Downtown Fredericton Inc. member whether you signed anything or not. Under the provincial Business Improvement Areas Act the City passes a levy by-law each year setting a rate on non-residential assessment inside the boundary. It lands on the property tax bill, so owners pay it directly and tenants usually pay it through the lease. DFI spends it on promotion, streetscape, advocacy and events. Business Fredericton North runs the same model across the river.

Sources: DFI member info · Levy by-law

06What does Ignite actually do for a new business?

First, the name: Ignite Fredericton is now simply Ignite, the economic development agency for thirteen Capital Region communities, at 40 Crowther Lane in Knowledge Park. For a new business the useful parts are concrete. Business navigators help with the plan, pricing, hiring and marketing. Planet Hatch next door is the incubator and coworking space. The Impact Loan offers $5,000 to $50,000 in working capital to Greater Fredericton entrepreneurs, which matters because CBDC loans are for rural areas and skip the city. Free online Business Basics and Marketing Basics sessions run most months. Ignite’s own 2026 tally: 229 businesses supported, 40 new startups.

Sources: Ignite · Loans and grants

07What funding is actually available to a small business here?

Manage expectations: most of it is loans, not grants. Ignite’s Impact Loan gives $5,000 to $50,000 to Fredericton-area startups. CBDC lends up to $150,000 but serves rural Atlantic Canada, not the city proper. ACOA’s Business Development Program offers interest-free, unsecured repayable funding for up to half of capital costs, and non-repayable help for up to 75 per cent of soft costs like training and marketing; call 1-888-576-4444 first. Opportunities NB assigns navigators (1-833-799-7966) and aims its growth capital at export-facing firms. The Small Business Investor Tax Credit pays your investors back 50 per cent (individuals) or 25 per cent (corporations, proposed in May 2026). Futurpreneur lends up to $20,000 to founders aged 18 to 39.

Sources: ACOA BDP · ONB · GNB funding

08How do I register a business in New Brunswick, and what does it cost?

Everything runs through Service New Brunswick’s Corporate Registry online, so no counter. A sole proprietorship or partnership registers a business name for $112, including the mandatory $12 Royal Gazette notice, with renewal at $62. Incorporating a New Brunswick corporation is $262 online or $312 on paper; $362 buys two-day expedited service instead of the usual ten working days. Corporations then owe an annual return, $60 online or $80 on paper. You will also want a free federal business number from CRA for GST/HST, which becomes mandatory once you pass $30,000 in revenue over four quarters, and for payroll.

Sources: SNB Corporate Registry · Fees

09What are the basics of hiring my first employee?

Three registrations and one number. The number: New Brunswick’s minimum wage has been $15.90 an hour since April 1, 2026, indexed to inflation and rounded to the nearest nickel. Payroll: open a payroll account under your CRA business number before the first payday; regular remitters send deductions by the 15th of the following month, and a small employer withholding under $1,000 a month with a clean record can remit quarterly. WorkSafeNB: coverage is mandatory once you have three or more workers at any point in the year, and you must register within 15 days; with one or two staff you can still opt in. Employment Standards sets hours, vacation pay, holidays and notice, and is worth reading before the first paycheque rather than after.

Sources: Minimum wage · WorkSafeNB coverage · CRA remitting

10How do I sort customer parking downtown?

Meters run Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., excluding holidays: $1.50 a half hour, $2.50 an hour, $2 an hour on four-hour stays. Evenings and weekends are free. The City garages (East End, Frederick Square, York Street) are $1.50 an hour; the Officers’ Square and Tannery lots $2.50, the Queen lot $2, all on the HotSpot app. To pick up a customer’s tab, join HotSpot’s merchant validation: a small annual fee plus a wallet you top up, and an NFC tile at the counter that customers tap to waive their session. Monthly staff permits sell first-come, five days before month end.

Sources: Street parking · Parking

Who speaks for you

The organizations that represent, levy, lend to or serve you, with what each costs and what you get.

Next

Every date above, on one calendar.

Holiday closings, remittances, the T4 and Form 100 deadline, the assessment window and the levy, merged with the live business events and filterable by who is asking.

Business events

Ask Freddy, owner edition

The questions you’d rather not phone City Hall about

Keep reading

The longer reads for anyone building here

All guides
Starting a Business in Fredericton: The Real, Practical Guide 🏙️ City life · 13 min Coworking and Flexible Workspace in Fredericton: A Working Guide 🏙️ City life · 10 min Fredericton's Tech & Startup Scene: Where the Work Actually Is 🏙️ City life · 12 min The Cost of Living in Fredericton in 2026: The Real Math 🏙️ City life · 9 min Downtown Living in Fredericton: The Walkable Life, Priced Honestly 🏙️ City life · 10 min