Service / 04
A BCBCA company with no director residency requirement, so your directors can live anywhere. We request your name approval and file the Incorporation Application with BC Registries.
Flat service fee
$319
+ $350 BC gov fee
$669 total, numbered
Named companies are $699: the extra $30is BC’s Name Approval Request fee, passed through at cost.
One rule decides this for most people: who is allowed to be a director.
British Columbia
No residency rule
BC companies require at least one director. There is no Canadian residency requirement, and directors may live anywhere.
Business Corporations Act (BC) s.120 sets out director qualifications and imposes no residency requirement.
Federal (CBCA)
25% must be resident
Federal corporations require at least one director, and at least 25% of directors must be resident Canadians.
CBCA s.105(3). At least 25 per cent of the directors of a corporation must be resident Canadians.
Everything below is in the price, with the government fee shown separately.
Choose your company name
A numbered company (for example 1234567 B.C. Ltd.) needs no approval and is the fastest route. For a named company, BC accepts up to three names in order of preference and the registrar may approve any one of them. We submit the Name Approval Request for you; the $30 government fee is in the price.
Set up your share structure
Simple (one class of unlimited common shares), standard (voting and non-voting), or custom classes with voting, dividend and liquidation rights.
Add your directors
At least one director is required. BC has no Canadian residency requirement at all, so your directors can live anywhere in the world. This is the main reason founders outside Canada choose BC.
Give your registered and records offices
BC requires both, and both must be physical addresses in British Columbia. They are usually the same address. PO boxes are not accepted, and the address appears on the public registry.
Review and pay
For a numbered company we file straight away, because nothing has to be approved first. For a named company there are two clocks and only one of them is ours: we submit the Name Approval Request promptly, then BC Registries decides in its own queue, and we file the Incorporation Application as soon as the name is granted. Standard name approval is not instant, and BC offers a priority service at a higher government fee which we do not resell. We submit your filing the same business day if your order arrives before 4pm ET, and for a named company once your name approval comes back. BC Registries is currently posting ten business days for incorporations.
GST at 5%, and only on our service fee. Sales tax follows the place of supply, which is where the customer is rather than where the company is incorporated, so a customer in British Columbia pays 5% GST. The BC government fees are disbursements we collect and remit at cost, so no tax is charged on those. A customer in Ontario incorporating a BC company still pays 13% HST on the service fee, because the rate follows the customer and not the company.
No. The Business Corporations Act (BC) imposes no residency requirement on directors, so they can live anywhere. What you do need is a registered office and a records office, both at physical addresses in British Columbia.
The biggest practical difference is directors. A federal CBCA corporation requires at least 25% of its directors to be resident Canadians. BC requires none. If some or all of your directors are outside Canada, a BC company is usually the simpler route.
It is not a NUANS report. BC runs its own name approval through BC Registries, searching the BC corporate registry, and the decision is at the registrar's discretion. It does not search federal corporations, trademarks, or other provinces. An approval is valid for 56 days, so we file promptly once it is granted.
The Name Approval Request carries a $30 government fee. Government fees are passed through at cost and shown separately rather than absorbed into our service fee, so a named company costs exactly that much more. Our service fee is the same $319 either way.
Business Corporations Act (BC) s.51. Filed within 2 months after each anniversary of the date on which the company was recognized, which means incorporation, amalgamation, extraprovincial registration or continuation into B.C. Missing it can lead to your company being struck from the register.
Not without registering there. A BC company can operate in British Columbia; to carry on business in Ontario, Alberta or elsewhere you must register extra-provincially in each of those jurisdictions.
$669 all in for a numbered company, $699 named. One price, no additions at checkout.
Start BC Incorporation