Setting up a company in Canada means a few registrations, made in the right order. You can incorporate federally or in Ontario, and a corporation formed either way is given a CRA business number and a corporation income tax account automatically. We work out which other program accounts you need, such as GST/HST, payroll or import-export, help you register them, and give you a calendar of what falls due in the first year. Legal advice on the structure itself comes from your lawyer.
The points where this service comes into play are numbered.
Numbered points are explained below.
At: Incorporating
You don’t know whether to incorporate federally or in Ontario, or what the difference means day to day.
A conversation about federal or Ontario incorporation from the tax and filing side, alongside your lawyer’s advice on structure.
At: Program accounts
You have incorporated but don’t know which CRA accounts you still need.
Registering the other program accounts you need: GST/HST (RT) and payroll (RP) with the CRA, and helping with an import-export (RM) account where you need one.
At: The first employee
You started paying an employee before anyone registered a payroll account.
A payroll (RP) account registered before the first payday, with the other program accounts.
At: The first year-end
Nobody has told you what your company must file in its first year, or when.
A first-year compliance calendar: GST/HST filing periods, payroll remittance dates, the first T2 return and instalments where they apply.
Federal or Ontario incorporation talked through from the tax and filing side, alongside your lawyer’s advice.
The business number and corporation income tax account assigned on incorporation, confirmed.
The other accounts you need, such as GST/HST and payroll, and an import-export account if you will trade across the border.
GST/HST periods, payroll remittance dates, the first T2 return and instalments, on one calendar.
A chart of accounts set up so the first year is recorded from the start.
Ask us. If it is Canadian tax, bookkeeping or advisory work, we will tell you plainly whether we can help.
We learn what the business does, who will own it, and whether you will hire, charge GST/HST, or import or export, and when you expect to start.
Your lawyer advises on the structure and files the incorporation. We explain what the federal or Ontario choice means for tax and filings.
Once the corporation exists, we confirm its business number and register the CRA program accounts it needs.
We set up the books and give you the first-year calendar, noting what recurs each year.
Not for the business number and corporation income tax account: a corporation formed federally or in Ontario gets both automatically. GST/HST and payroll accounts are registered separately, when the business needs them, and so is an import-export account, which the Canada Border Services Agency now manages.
Your lawyer advises on that. An Ontario corporation is formed through the Ontario Business Registry; a federal corporation is formed through Corporations Canada and may also need to register in each province where it carries on business. We set out what each means for your tax filings, so you can weigh the choice with your lawyer.
When you become an employer, and before your first remittance of source deductions is due. We register it and give you the remittance dates that apply to you.