Federal and provincial incorporation fees differ depending on the jurisdiction that your corporation needs to work within. The fees for each provionce range from $250-$450. 

The difference with federal incorporation verses provincial incorporation is that it gives your company’s name protection across the country while also giving the corporation greater rights to conduct business throughout the entire country. The larger downside of incorporating federally is based around it usually costing more money and taking extra time to set up.  

There is no legal requirement forcing companies to have a lawyer help with incorporation, but it is strongly suggested as it can be a challenge for any business to undertake. Lawyers specializing in that field can offer great incite and can help make the transfer smoother.  

A corporation is a legal organization that has its own legal entity separate from its owners. A corporation can make a profit, be taxed, and can sometimes be held liable for legal issues that the corporation could be facing. Incorporating a business is seen as a very viable business strategy to protect its owners from personal liability.

Incorporating a business can be a very lucrative business strategy for many businesses. The largest benefits of incorporating a business are: 

Limited Liability – The large advantage of incorporating a business is the fact that the liability is extremely limited to the shareholders. In most cases, shareholders are not liable for debts and other commitments from the corporation. A shareholder’s liability with a corporation is solely based on the amount of funds that are invested into the corporation. Creditors cannot go after shareholders for money owed from the corporation.

Perpetual Existence – Because a corporation is seen as its own “person” it is not dependent on the life of employees, shareholders, and directors to run the company. The advantage of this is that it can transfer ownership constantly through its shares.

Capital Acquisition – A corporation has the ability to gain more sources of capital compared to other business types like sole proprietorship and partnerships. The main way a corporation can gain more capital is through issuing different classes of shares.

Tax Advantages – When thinking about incorporating one of the large benefits is based around taxes. Incorporated businesses can get lower income tax rates while also being able to carry over losses from previous years to balance/offset profits in future years.

Credibility and Prestige – Overall, having a business that is incorporated gives the appearance of credibility and trustworthiness when it comes to deals with other businesses.

When thinking about where to incorporate it depends if you want to be incorporated provincially or federally. When thinking about incorporating provincially, it is the same process for each province or territory, the requirement being that you must conduct your work in that province. If you want to do work outside the province the corporation will need to register with that authority.  

A named corporation is a corporation that was given a name selected by its owners at some point during the incorporation, or at a date after said company was incorporated. For a corporation to be named it must reach a few basic requirements that apply to the naming of a corporation, as well as restrictions. This is an important and sometimes challenging part of incorporating a business, in which a lawyer can provide guidance and clarity.  

A numbered corporation is a corporation that is given a nonspecific name based on the assignment registration number. An example of this would be an incorporated entity under the Business Corporations Act that has the assigned corporation number 1425822. This company would legally be registered as 1425822 Canada Inc if it was federally incorporated. If it was incorporating within Ontario, it would be named 1425822 Ontario Inc. Like named corporations, this aspect of incorporating can be very confusing, and having a lawyer helping you through this process can be very beneficial.  

An annual return is a document that every corporation is required to file with Corporations Canada every year. Annual returns are important because they provide Corporations Canada with updated information about the corporation. 

As a shareholder in a corporation, you have the right to transfer and sell your shares, as well as the legal rights pertaining to those shares.  

The difference between a private and public corporation is the shares of a public corporation are traded on a stock exchange, while private shares are not traded publicly through a stock exchange.