Ontario Articles of Incorporation Form 1 together with required supporting documents and fee, must be filed with the Ministry to incorporate an Ontario business corporation under the Ontario Business Corporations Act.
Articles in duplicate may be mailed to the Toronto address listed below. For over-the-counter service, articles may
be filed in person at the Toronto office or at some Land Registry/ServiceOntario offices in Ontario or you can file your Ontario Articles of Incorporation Online here for only $49.99
Supporting Documents
Name Search
If you are incorporating under a name instead of a number name, you must obtain an Ontario-biased NUANS
report for the proposed name. NUANS is a computerized search system that compares a proposed corporate
name or trade-mark with databases of existing corporate bodies and trade-marks. This comparison determines
the similarity that exists between the proposed name or mark and existing names in the database and produces
a listing of names that are found to be most similar. This search must be submitted together with the duplicate
Articles of Incorporation within 90 days from production by the NUANS system. For example, articles submitted
on November 28th could be accompanied by a NUANS name search report dated as early as August 30th, but not
dated earlier.
It is the applicant’s responsibility to check the search for similar/identical names and to obtain any consent that
may be required. The Ministry will not grant a name that is identical to the current name or former name of
another corporation operating in Ontario whether active or not, unless it has been more than ten years since the
other corporation dissolved or changed its name. The only exception to this rule is when the corporation meets
the requirements of Subsection 6(2) of Regulation 62 under the Business Corporations Act. In this case a legal
opinion must accompany the articles being filed. The legal opinion must be on legal letterhead and must be
signed by an individual lawyer (not a law clerk or law firm). It must also clearly indicate that the corporations
involved comply with Subsection 6(2) by referring to each clause specifically.
Bilingual Name
When incorporating a corporation with an English and French form of the name a name search is required for each form of
the name (English and French) unless the English and French forms of the name are identical and the legal element in the
French form is the French version of the legal element in the English form (for example, INCORPOREE and
INCORPORATED). There should be a forward slash (/) separating the two forms of the name.
Number Names
You do not require a name search for a number name. In article one on the form, leave nine empty boxes, then type or
print in block capital letters the word “ONTARIO” followed by one of the following legal elements: LIMITED, LIMITÉE,
INCORPORATED, INCORPORÉE, CORPORATION or the corresponding abbreviation LTD., LTÉE, INC., or CORP. The
Companies and Personal Property Security Branch will assign a number to the corporation.
Appearance of Documents
The Articles of Incorporation must be completed in duplicate on Form 1 as approved by the Minister. All documents must
be legible and compatible with the microfilming process, with the information typed or hand printed in block capital letters,
on one side of good quality white bond paper 8 ½” X 11″.
The article headings are numbered 1 to 10 and must remain in that order. Do not leave out any of the headings. If a
section does not apply type “nil” or “not applicable”. When additional pages are required, due to lack of space, they should
be the same size as all the other pages and should be inserted after the applicable heading with the same number as the
heading page with the addition of alphabet characters to indicate sequence. For example, pages inserted after page 3
would be numbered 3A, 3B, etc.
Article 1 Set out the name of the corporation in block capital letters starting from the first box of the first line on the left
with one letter per box and one empty box for space. Punctuation marks are entered in separate boxes.
Complete one line before starting in the first box of the next line. The name entered must be exactly the same
as that on the name search report.
Article 2 The address (where multi-office building include room or suite number) of the registered office of the
corporation must be set out in full including the street name, street number or R.R. #, municipality, province,
country and the postal code. A post office box alone is not an acceptable address. If there is no street and
number, set out the lot and concession or lot and plan numbers. The registered office must be in Ontario.
Article 3 Set out the number of directors. This can be a fixed number of directors (e.g.. 1) or a minimum and maximum
number (e.g. minimum 1, maximum 10). Do not complete both.
Article 4 The name(s) (including first name, middle names and surname) and the address for service for each of the
first directors must be set out. The address should include the street name, street number, suite
(or R.R. #) municipality, province, country and postal code. Directors must be individuals, not corporations.
State if the director(s) is/are Resident Canadian(s). At least 25 per cent of the directors must be resident
Canadians (if 25% of the directors is not a whole number round up to the nearest whole number). Where a
corporation has less than four directors, at least one must be a resident Canadian. The directors must be
individuals, not corporations.
Form 2, Consent to Act as a First Director – A person listed as a director (article 4) who is not an
incorporator (article 10) and therefore is not signing the form is required to complete a Form 2, Consent to Act
as First Director. The completed and signed Form 2 must be available for inspection at the registered office of
the corporation.
Article 5 Set out restrictions, if any, on the business the corporation may carry on or on the powers that the
corporation may exercise. If none, state so.
Article 6 Set out the classes and any maximum number of shares that the corporation is authorized to issue.
This item should be completed (e.g., unlimited common shares).
Article 7 Set out the rights, privileges, restrictions and conditions (if any) attached to each class of shares and
directors authority with respect to any class of shares that may be issued in series.
Article 8 Set out restrictions on issue, transfer or ownership of shares (if any).
Article 9 Set out other provisions (if any).
Article 10 Set out name and address for service of each of the incorporators. If the incorporator is a corporation
set out the address of the registered or head office. The address should include the street name, street
number and suite (if applicable) or R.R. # and the municipality, province, country and postal code.
Execution Both copies of the articles must be signed by each of the incorporators. Print the full name of the
incorporator beside his/her signature or if the incorporator is a corporation print the name of the
corporation and the name and office of the individual signing for the corporation (e.g., President).
Ontario Incorporation Service in 2 Hours $49.99
Ontario Incorporation in 2 Hours. New low incorporation fee $49 plus Govt fees. Business Corporations are incorporated in Ontario, according to the provisions of the Ontario Business Corporation Act with the Ontario Corporations Division. Company Formations Canada provides fast and easy Ontario Incorporation Service for only $49.99 plus government fees. Incorporate Today Online your new Ontario Corporation for only $49.99.
