Can opening a business under a parent's name affect them legally?

[blnk]

I am 16 years old and plan to open my clothing brand under my parent's name. I am meeting with an accountant to see if having this business under their name would affect them in any negative way. Are there any Shopify documents in regard to legal binding contracts or anything else I should bring to help my accountant help me? 

[Andrew]

Hi @blnk, 

That sounds fantastic! Kudos on your entrepreneurial spirit and wanting to get stuck right in!

When you open an account with Shopify you agree to our terms of service. You'll notice that in section 1.2 we stipulate that:

You must be the older of: (i) 18 years, or (ii) at least the age of majority in the jurisdiction where you reside and from which you use the Services to open an Account.

Obviously, if you have your parents open the account then, technically speaking, your parents are the owners of the account and not yourself - at least until the age of 18, whereby you can change the name and details on the account.

As we are not legal experts, there's little else I can advise on. However, if you speak to your accountant and they request more documents or information don't hesitate to reach out and I'll be happy to help you as best as I can.

In the meantime, what kind of clothing are you thinking of selling? Do you have a physical inventory or are you going to be using Print on Demand?

I'd recommend checking out our step-by-step video on How to Build a Shopify store. It will walk you through it all to make sure you're not taking any missteps along the way. And we're here to help whenever you want to talk or ask anything.