Canada Company Formation

Canadian Federal Company Formation

In Canada, a company can be incorporated at either a federal or a provincial level.

Federal incorporation allows a business to trade in any Canadian province

The provincial incorporation allows a business to trade internationally and only in the single province in which it was incorporated

Formacompany has over 20 years’ experience incorporating in Canada and our staff will be happy to advise you on which level of incorporation would best suit your business needs and guide you through the incorporation process that is most appropriate.

Company Name

Company names must be in English or French. If incorporating federally a NUANS report is required and this must be submitted when applying for a company name.

Registered Office

All Canadian companies must have a registered office, which must be a physical address in Canada. This is where company documents may be legally served and where company registers must be kept.

Directors

Only one director is required.  A federal company requires a resident director.

Shareholders

Only a single shareholder of any nationality is required and a maximum of 50 shareholders is allowed. An annual general meeting must be held within six months following the year end, with no more than 15 months between meeting dates.

Share Capital

There is no minimum share capital for a Canadian company.

Filing Requirements

All companies are required to file an annual return. Companies are also required to produce annual financial statements that should be presented at the annual general meeting. Financial statements do not need to be filed with the authorities but are instead kept at the registered office where they must be available for public inspection on request. Private companies may opt to not appoint an auditor, if voted for by the shareholders.

Timescale

It takes approximately 2-3 weeks to incorporate a  Canadian company.

Canada Company Formation Fees

Your company will be incorporated using your chosen name and we will ensure that the procedure is kept as simple as possible.

The whole incorporation process can be completed online and we will administer the preparation and filing of all registration forms on your behalf.

Proof of Identity

As part of our due diligence we require proof of identity in the form of a passport copy for all directors and shareholders of the company.

Travel

Federal companies need to have at least one  resident director. Certain provinces in Canada can allow companies to be set up with  non resident directors.