Business Registration – Incorporating

The main advantages of operating a business through a corporation are limited liability, perpetual existence and a reduced tax rate. Federal incorporation offers unique benefits to small businesses. For example, when you incorporate federally, a country-wide search of your proposed name is made, which checks it against other names or trademarks in existence, providing you with stronger name protection. More than 200 000 entrepreneurs have chosen to incorporate federally over the past 20 years.If you incorporate federally, Industry Canada’s Corporations Directorate can offer you various services depending on your specific needs. For instance, if you incorporate online, the processing turnaround time is usually within one business day. The fee for an online incorporation is $200 compared to $250 for a traditional paper filing.

This table below displays the differences between federal and provincial incorporations:

Category	Federal Incorporation	Provincial Incorporation
CORPORATE NAME PROTECTION	Corporate name protection is second only to Trademark Protection. The corporate name is protected across Canada.	Corporate name is only protected in the province or territory of incorporation.
NAME GRANTING GUIDELINES	Federal Name Granting Guidelines are very strict and many proposed names are rejected.	Incorporator’s responsibility to ensure that proposed corporate name is available for use. Names are not usually rejected unless they conflict with another confusingly similar name already in use.
FILING	Yearly Filings are accompanied by a Filing Fee.	Filings only required for change of information – some provinces have no filing fee
OPERATIONS	Can operate across the country as of right, subject to provincial extra-provincial filing requirements.	Can only operate within the province of incorporation as of right. Must register extra-provincially if operating in other Provinces.
GOVERNMENT INCORPORATION FEE	$200.00	Varies – $300.00 for Ontario