If you are thinking of incorporating a new business in British Columbia, the following checklist may help you. Please note that not all steps will be necessary for every corporation, and there may be some steps that are necessary for your corporation that are not included.
- Decide to Incorporate
- File Articles of Incorporation
- Adopt Corporate Bylaws
- Create and Maintain a Minute Book
- Obtain a Business License
- Get a Business Number
- Harmonized Sales Tax
- Register with the WCB
- Prepare a Shareholders’ Agreement (Optional)
- Hold Directors’ Organizational Meeting
- Hold Shareholders’ Organizational Meeting
- Other Steps
Decide to Incorporate
The decision to incorporate is not one that should be taken lightly or made on a whim. There are advantages to incorporating, but there are also drawbacks. If you are unsure whether you should or how to incorporate, you should talk with both legal and tax professionals to determine if incorporating is the right move for you and your business.
British Columbia Incorporation Service.
Business Corporations are incorporated in British Columbia, according to the provisions of the British Columbia Business Corporation Act with the British Columbia Corporations Division. Company Formations Canada provides fast and easy British Columbia Incorporation Service.
Our British Columbia Incorporation Service includes:
Receipt and review of your incorporation information.
If you choose to incorporate a named company, we conduct a Provincial or NUANS prescreen search of your proposed corporate name and advice you if there are any difficulties with your name.
Preparation and filing of Article of Incorporation.
Personalized ByLaws
Personalized Company Minute Book
Organizational Resolutions
Register of Directors
The resignation of Director Form
Appointment of Corporate Officers
The resignation of Officer Form
Subscription of Shares
Share Certificate
Register of Shareholders
Consent and waiver for allotment of shares
Directors’ resolutions approving the allotment of shares
Consent and waiver for transfer of shares.
Shares Transfer Form
Directors’ Resolutions Approving Transfer of Shares
Bylaws
Notice of Organizational Meeting of Incorporators and Directors
Waiver of Notice of Meeting of Incorporators and Directors
Minutes of Organizational Meeting of Board of Directors
Waiver of Notice First Meeting of Shareholders
Minutes First Meeting of Shareholders
Notice to Directors of Regular Board Meeting
Minutes Shareholders Annual Meeting
Minutes Regular Board Meeting
Provincial-specific startup checklist
File Articles of Incorporation
To register your corporation, you must file a document called the Articles of Incorporation with the province of British Columbia.
Adopt Corporate Bylaws
Corporate Bylaws describe the internal rules governing the management of the corporation. Bylaws describe the duties and obligations of the directors and officers and govern how the corporation will be run. Company Formations offers ByLaws preparation service. Contact us for more information about our Corporate ByLaws preparation service
Create and Maintain a Minute Book
A minute book is a binder, case, or file containing the documents and records that a corporation is required by law to keep. Minute books often include the following documents, amongst others:
Articles of Incorporation
Corporate Bylaws
Minutes of Organizational Meetings
Minutes of Shareholder and Director meetings
Shareholder Agreements
Resolutions Copies of any and all forms filed with the government on behalf of the corporation
Ledgers of directors, officers, shareholders, and share transfers
British Columbia Company Minute Books
Company Formations offers fast & easy British Columbia Company Minute Book preparation service for only $39.99. We provide personalized British Columbia company minute books in MS Word and PDF format that includes:
Organizational Resolutions
Register of Directors
Resignation of Director Form
Appointment of Corporate Officers
Resignation of Officer Form
Subscription of Shares
Share Certificate
Register of Shareholders
Consent and waiver for allotment of shares
Directors’ resolutions approving the allotment of shares
Consent and waiver for transfer of shares.
Shares Transfer Form
Directors’ Resolutions Approving Transfer of Shares
Bylaws
Notice of Organizational Meeting of Incorporators and Directors
Waiver of Notice of Meeting of Incorporators and Directors
Minutes of Organizational Meeting of Board of Directors
Waiver of Notice First Meeting of Shareholders
Minutes First Meeting of Shareholders
Notice to Directors of Regular Board Meeting
Minutes Shareholders Annual Meeting
Minutes Regular Board Meeting
Properly creating and maintain a Minute Book is vital. Corporations that fail to maintain thorough and accurate minute books can face sometimes severe repercussions – in some cases the corporation may even lose its corporate status and the benefits that come with it, including limited liability for shareholders.
Obtain a Business License
For businesses located in cities, towns, villages, or districts, you must contact the Municipal Business License Office in order to obtain a business license. For businesses that are not located in cities, towns, villages, or districts, you should contact the nearest Regional District Office. While obtaining your business license, you should also ensure that your business conforms to land use and zoning bylaws.
Get a Business Number
Once your corporation has been filed with the BC Government, the BC Government will automatically forward your information to the Federal government that will create and forward to you by mail a business number for your corporation. Once you have received that business number, you can open the following accounts with Revenue Canada:
Open a GST account
Open a Payroll Deductions account
Open a Corporate Income Tax account
Open an Import/Export account
Harmonized Sales Tax
The harmonized sales tax (HST) is applied on most purchases of taxable supplies of goods and services in Canada. Businesses in Canada that were registered for the GST are required to collect and report the HST according to their established GST filing frequency.
If you operate in an HST -participating province, you will collect sales tax at the following rates:
- NB: 15%
- NL: 15%
- NS: 15%
- ON: 13%
- PEI
Register with the WCB
If you have already hired or plan to hire employees, you should register with the Workers’ Compensation Board.
Prepare a Shareholders’ Agreement (Optional)
A Shareholder Agreement can be used to say how a corporation will be managed, how disputes will be resolved, what will happen on the death of a shareholder and to prevent shareholders from competing with the corporation.
Hold Directors’ Organizational Meeting
A Directors’ Organizational Meeting or Minutes is required to:
Approve the corporate bylaws
Approving a new registered office location
Approve the corporate seal
Approving the share certificate form
Issue shares of stock
Appointing or Waiving the Appointment of Accounting Consultants (optional)
Appoint the corporate officers
Open a corporate bank account
Hold Shareholders’ Organizational Meeting
A Shareholders’ Organizational Meeting or Minutes is required to:
Approve the corporate bylaws
Appointing or Waiving the Appointment of Auditors
Appoint or confirm directors
Approving the acts of the incorporators or directors
