Incorporating a business in Canada federally means creating your corporation under the Canada Business Corporations Act, the federal statute administered by Corporations Canada. It is the route that protects your corporate name across every province and territory, rather than in a single province.
The process is more structured than registering a sole proprietorship, but it is not complicated once you know the pieces. Here is the whole path, start to finish.
Federal or provincial, decided first
Before anything else, you choose whether to incorporate federally or in a single province. We compare the two in a separate guide on federal versus provincial incorporation. In short: federal protects your name nationwide and lets you operate anywhere in Canada, while provincial is often simpler if you plan to stay in one province.
What you need to incorporate federally
Federal incorporation comes down to a handful of decisions and a few pieces of information.
- A name. Either a named corporation, which needs a NUANS name search to show it is distinctive, or a numbered corporation, which the government assigns.
- A registered office address in Canada. This is the corporation's official address for legal documents, and it must be a real address, not a P.O. box.
- At least one director. Federal corporations generally must have at least 25 percent of their directors be resident Canadians, and at least one if you have fewer than four directors.
- A share structure. Your articles of incorporation set out the classes of shares the corporation can issue and the rights attached to them.
- An incorporator. The person or corporation setting up the company, with an address on file.
The steps to file
With those decisions made, the filing itself is a sequence.
- Choose your name and run a NUANS search, or opt for a numbered corporation to skip it.
- Prepare your articles of incorporation, including the share structure and any restrictions.
- File the articles with Corporations Canada, along with your registered office address and first directors.
- Pay the federal government filing fee, which is currently $200 to file online.
- Receive your certificate of incorporation, which is the moment your corporation legally exists.
Government fees change from time to time, so treat the $200 figure as a current guide rather than a promise. A NUANS report, if you go with a named corporation, is a separate small cost.
What to do after you incorporate
The certificate is the start, not the finish. A few things usually follow within the first weeks.
- Get a CRA business number, which is the corporation's account with the Canada Revenue Agency.
- Register for GST/HST once you expect to cross the $30,000 revenue threshold.
- Register extra-provincially in each province where you actually carry on business, since federal incorporation does not remove that step.
- Start a minute book, the corporation's required record of its own decisions.
- Note your first annual return deadline, which is an ongoing filing separate from your tax return.
Where Korporex fits
You can file the articles yourself through Corporations Canada. If you would rather not assemble the pieces by hand, Korporex files your federal incorporation online, including the NUANS name search, the share structure, and the minute book, with your documents delivered within 24 hours.