Ontario Incorporation Package

When incorporating a company, it’s assigned a corporation number. If you choose not to name your business, this number becomes its official name—for example, 987654 Ontario Inc. The main advantage of a numbered company is that it skips the NUANS name search and approval process, which saves time and reduces costs. However, the downside is that it doesn’t provide a marketable brand name for use in advertising, signage, or brand development.

With an experienced in-house legal and accounting team, Incorporation Agency Canada is a trusted registered member of multiple government units. We offer a full suite of incorporation and corporate maintenance services, including:

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• NUANS Name Search & Approval
• Custom By-laws & Articles of Incorporation
• CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) Account Setup
• WCB (Workers' Compensation Board) Registration
• Corporate Seal & Minute Book Binder
• Annual Return Filings & Corporate Maintenance
• Domain name reservation
• Business Address Services
• Express Registration Service
• ...and much more

Yes! Our customer service team is available to offer general assistance (note: we do not provide legal advice). You can reach us by phone at 647-945-8893 during business hours.

A Named Corporation allows you to select a custom business name—e.g., Johnson Car Wash Inc. A Numbered Corporation does not include a custom name. Instead, a number is assigned by the government—e.g., 1000044599 Ontario Inc.

Yes, incorporation is a one-time payment with no recurring monthly or annual fees.

Absolutely. The Certificate of Incorporation and Articles of Incorporation are issued by the official Corporate Registry. Our in-house legal team drafts the articles, and you may opt for custom versions to fit your specific needs.

You can place an order online using a credit card or e-transfer. Once your order is reviewed and processed, we’ll register the company and deliver the documents either by email or postal mail, depending on your preference.

The Company Key is a unique digital identifier issued to incorporated businesses. It secures access to online government services, prevents unauthorized activity, and serves as a digital signature for corporate filings (like annual returns or notice of changes). Adding it to your incorporation package is a quick, cost-effective option.

Yes, we provide three post-incorporation and maintenance options: Annual Return Filing – We submit your annual corporate return.
Phone Support Get help with questions and updates.
Complete Maintenance – Includes Annual Return, Phone Support, and Notices of Change (e.g., director or address updates).

NUANS stands for Newly Upgraded Automated Name Search. It’s a federal database used to check for existing business names that may conflict with your proposed name. For Ontario incorporations, only an Ontario-specific NUANS Reservation Report is accepted. A federal NUANS report is not valid for this purpose.

• The address must be a physical location within Ontario.
• P.O. Boxes and virtual addresses are not permitted.
• All official correspondence and legal documents related to the corporation will be sent to this address.

The Address Service is an annual mail-handling and document-scanning solution we offer to corporations that do not have a local physical address in Ontario. This service can be renewed yearly for a similar fee. Any government or corporation-related mail received on your behalf will be scanned and emailed directly to you.

You can update your corporation’s registered address at any time by paying the applicable filing fee. Many businesses initially use a home or residential address during incorporation and update it later once they acquire a commercial or office location.

If you select electronic documents, we will email PDF copies to the billing email address you provide. You also have the option to receive both: electronic copies by email and printed hard copies sent by mail.

Yes, you can choose a future date for incorporation. However, the selected date must be no earlier than today and no more than 30 days ahead.

The main activity refers to your business’s primary line of work. Please provide one activity, described in one or two words, so we can accurately match it with the options in the government’s classification system.

Each director has equal power and control over the corporation. The Second director can remove the primary director and vice versa. Therefore, you may add an additional director whom you trust.

Corporate bylaws, alternatively known as company constitution, are the rules, rights, regulations and policies set by a corporation. The corporate bylaws, usually prepared by a corporate lawyer ensuring no rules or clause conflicts the Provincial Corporations Act or Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA).

A Corporate Minutes is the collection of corporate records (including the articles of incorporation) to provide to anyone who inspect the record or at the time of auditing. Corporate Bylaws and Minutes may also be required by certain banks to open an account.

Yes, the expense is tax creditable. When you incorporate a company, the expenses are called business development expenses which are tax creditable. Any spending you do after incorporation is considered as operating expenses which are not tax creditable. Additionally, doing it separately later is a manual process that involves a corporate lawyer, which causes significant increase in cost and time (and not tax creditable).

Since a corporation is a separate legal entity than its owners, it could owned only by owning its shares. The corporation's assets and stocks are go split into pieces and each of these pieces is called share. If a corporation issues 100 shares with $1 each, the total net worth of the corporation is 100x$1=$100.

For simplicity of corporate filing, most people set up $1 share price in the beginning. Eventually, the share price and share numbers could be increased.

A corporation's stock are split into shares. Those who own the shares, are in fact the owners of the corporation. Therefore, to make a classification of owners, shares are classified. Class A common voting share owners have voting rights to change the corporation's policies and rules. Class B common non-voting share owners do not have such rights.

In simple language, the shareholders are the owners of the corporation. If a corporation has 1 shareholder, regardless of number of shares, the single shareholder owns 100% of the shares.

A corporation has 2 shareholders: John and Mike.
Case 1: Both owners have rights to vote: Assign class A to both.
Case 2: Only John has voting rights: Assign class A to John and class B to Mike.

Share number cannot be in decimal point.
Case 1: John, Mike and Ali own same percentage: Assign exact same number to each.
Case 2: John owns 40%, Mike owns 30% and Ali owns 30%: Assign shares 40 to John, 30 to Mike and 30 to Ali.
Case 3: John owns 51%, Mike owns 24.5% and Ali owns 24.5%: Avoid decimal point by doubling the proportion. Assign 102 to John, 49 to Mike and 49 to Ali.

Yes. You can change any time share price, share number and shareholders.

Yes, filing an Initial Return is required by the Corporations Act. Corporations must submit this return to the Ontario Ministry within 60 days of incorporation. The Initial Return confirms key information such as the company’s head office and its directors/officers. Failure to file this return may result in the corporation being dissolved by Service Ontario.

The company key acts as a digital signature that secures your corporation’s online presence and prevents unauthorized access. It verifies the company’s identity and allows only authorized personnel to access government filing services. The company key is essential for submitting initial returns, annual returns, and notices of change. Getting the company key together with your incorporation package is convenient and cost-effective since the process is simple and quick.

A Business Number (BN) is a unique nine-digit identifier assigned by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). It streamlines interactions between businesses and federal, provincial, and municipal governments. Every corporation is required to have its own business number.

Corporations must report all income and expenses to the CRA. The Corporate Tax ID (also called RC0001) is the identifier used for this purpose. Every corporation must obtain a Corporate Tax ID from the CRA.

Company's official email is added to the company profile during filing the initial return. Your corporation's notifications, warning and messages goes directly to this email address. If you need to reset your company key at any time, the reset code will be sent to this email.

The corporation's officers (President, CEO, VP, Secretary etc.) manage the business's daily operations, and in their different roles they are given legal authority to act on the corporation's behalf in almost all lawful business-related activities.

Most corporations, in the beginning, assign a single individual in multiple roles (director, incorporator, officer and shareholder). With the growth of the company, these roles can be re-distributed among other individuals.

Normally, the designations 'President' or 'CEO' is assigned to the primary director or the most important individual of the corporation. The next roles are VP, treasurer, secretary, administrative assistant etc.

If you sell products and services in Canada and collect GST/HST from your Customers, then GST/HST Account Number is Required. Customer's invoice or receipt must show the HST number. Unable to collect HST may cause penalty by CRA.

If you hire Employees including yourself, then you need a Payroll Account Number. If you do not have an employee, your own salary or a family member's salary can be processed through the payroll account to take advantage of CRA 'income splitting'. Please note, this is not a payroll service, rather the initial set up of a payroll account with CRA.

If your business involves importing physical goods, it is required. The government uses this account to process the customs clearance.

If your business involves exporting physical goods, it is required. The government uses this account to process the customs clearance.

Registering with Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is required for most businesses In Ontario within 10 days of hiring their first employee. Some types of businesses are exempted from mandatory registration with WSIB based on the activities (Examples are banks, insurance companies, hair salons (with exceptions), private schools or daycares, travel agencies, etc.) but many employers in these industries choose to register with the WSIB anyways for protection to their workers. WSIB registration is more important for small businesses and start-ups to provide financial security in the event of a workplace accident.

Share certificates are legal and official proof of ownership of a corporation. Bank may ask to show it to open a bank account. Most people choose 5 share certificates to save costs; some choose 10 or 20. It includes blank certificates in case you want to add spouse, child or friend as shareholder in future.

The company seal, is a tool used to stamp or emboss your company's important documents in order to show the document is certified by, and agreed upon by, the Board of Directors of the company. Commonly used for:

1. employment and vendor contracts
2. minutes from Board of Directors meetings
3. leases
4. To be granted for bank loans or mortgages
5. any contracts or agreements

Supplies (minute book binder, seal, share certificates) will be shipped by Canada Post to your corporation's mailing address.

Yes, we offer 3 types of post-incorporation and maintenance service:

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• Annual Return: At the end of the year, we will file annual corporate return for you.

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• Phone Support:
corporate Update (address change, director's change, shareholder change, officer change). Please Click Here for more details.

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• Complete Maintenance: Annual Return + Phone Support + Notice of Changes Click Here for more details.

The Annual Return of Corporation must be filed for every Canadian corporation every year to keep the corporation active. This is filling to keep the corporation’s records up to date.

The package does not include the extract of the draft version from governmental systems and sending it to our customers. Should you wish to review the draft before the final submission, this option is available. Be informed that your chosen service speed determines when the draft copy is emailed to you. If we don't receive your green signal within a designated timeframe, our representative will proceed with the final submission and subsequently deliver the relevant company establishment documents to you.

Canada Post offers the following options for shipping an item within Canada:

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• Xpresspost Certified: is a service for sending documents that captures the recipient's signature upon delivery of the item. This service is ideal for sending important notices as well as legal and court documents.

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• Expedited: is fast, cost-effective ground shipping within Canada. All items can be tracked and have on-time guarantees.

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• Regular Parcel: is a cost-effective ground delivery service available to customers.

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