Canada Provincial Incorporation
To Incorporate Your Company Provincially, please select your Province of Incorporation:
A company is an entity that has legal status, subject to the conditions specified by law, as well as rights and obligations. The liability of its shareholders is limited to their investment.
Characteristics:
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A company exists separately from its shareholders or members;
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It possesses its own property;
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It acquires rights and assumes obligations and liabilities;
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It can sign contracts and agreements;
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It can institute legal proceedings or be the target of them just like a natural person;
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It is governed by a board of directors elected by its shareholders or members.
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The board of directors elects or appoints officers such as a secretary, treasurer, president etc., who are responsible for running the company.
Incorporation is the process by which one or more persons may form a limited company. There are many reasons why you might want to incorporate a company in Canada, but the four most common reasons include:
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To create a legal entity;
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To provide some protection for the name of the enterprise;
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To provide limited liability to its members;
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To provide perpetual existence
Individuals or groups wishing to operate as corporations in Canada are required under federal, provincial and territorial Company Acts to file the appropriate forms with their respective Registrar of Companies.
Incorporation establishes your business as a distinct, legal entity, offering you a number of advantages including business name protection, transferability of business ownership, limited liability and possible tax advantages.
Registration Process
The following steps provide the procedures needed to incorporate a company in Canada with the Registrar of Companies. To form a limited corporation, you must provide a corporate name and address, describe the structure, identify the 'type' of corporation and provide director information. The following information is provided to assist you in this process.
In Canada, company incorporation is done by filing an Articles of Incorporation with the Registrar of Companies.
To incorporate your company in other provinces, you will have to file the required paperwork in each province. If you are doing business in other provinces, you may want to consider federal incorporation.
In Canada, you can create a company with a name, or create a numbered company.
Step One is the Name Search and Approval
If you are creating a company with a name, the first step in incorporation is to ensure the proposed name of your company is available. To check the availability of your name, you must obtain a name research and approval. If you are creating a numbered company the Corporate Registry Office will assign it a number that it can use as a name. In that case, no Name Research and Approval is required.
A company's name must be unique in the Canada. To prove its uniqueness, you must obtain a name search and approval. This search is used to confirm that no one else has a business or registered trademark with a name as, or similar to, the one you have chosen. The name of an incorporated company must end with one of the following designations:
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Limited
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Limitee;
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Incorporated
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Incorporee
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Corporation
The following abbreviations of the above are also acceptable:
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Ltd.
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Ltee.
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Inc.
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Corp.
Step two Articles of Incorporation are completed
Articles of Incorporation are legal documents that establish your business, and mustbe approved by the government before you do business under that business name.
Once your name has been approved the next step is to complete the Articles of Incorporation and submit it to the Registrar of Companies with the appropriate fees. All documents received are placed in the order they were received and checked to see if they have been completed properly and that they do not violate any provision of the Companies Act.
If your application is approved the Registrar of Companies Office will register your company by filing a copy of the articles in the register and issue you a certificate if incorporation as proof that registration has ocurred.
The third element is the fee to file your application for incorporation.