Incorporate your Company

Whether to Incorporate Federally Or Provincially

When you incorporate your business federally, you can enjoy the following advantages:

• Your corporation is able to carry on business in all provinces and territories (as long as you register your corporation in all the provinces in which you will be conducting business).
• You are able to use the same name in each province or territory, even if another company is already doing business under a similar name.
• The corporation is recognized internationally.

The disadvantages:

• You will face stricter name requirements, which involve a NUANS name search and verification process (more on this below).
• More annual paperwork, as you must keep up to date with not only the filings required by the federal Director of Corporations Branch, but all filings required by the provinces.

However, if you incorporate provincially, your corporation only has the right to carry on business in the province or territory where your business is incorporated, which means the decision to incorporate federally or provincially depends mostly on the scope of your company than anything else.

Additionally, if you are starting a one-person or small nonreporting corporation and only planning to do business in one province, then there is, there's no need to incorporate federally. This way, if your business grows, you can simply incorporate your business in another province.

Prepare Your Documents

To incorporate your business, you will need to prepare the following documents

• The Articles of Incorporation: the rules and regulations that will govern the conduct of the company members and directors.
• The Notice of Offices states the location of the two required offices for your corporation, the registered office, and the records office.
• The Memorandum: sets out the rules for the conduct of the company.

If you are incorporating federally, you will also need to prepare a Notice of Directors (and submit a federally based NUANS report). If you are filing provincially, be sure you check the document requirements for your specific province before you proceed to the next step.

File Your Documents and Apply for Incorporation

• Corporations Canada and the provincial registries have websites where you can incorporate your business online. You may also submit your application for incorporation by mailing the forms and fees to the appropriate registrar.