Start a business in British Columbia

Direct answer

British Columbia incorporates companies through BC Registries and Online Services under the Business Corporations Act. The sequence is a Name Request, then signed articles and an incorporation agreement that you keep rather than file, then an incorporation application filed electronically. The published fees are $30 for the name and $350 for the incorporation, and a standard name request takes about 7 to 14 days. Two features make British Columbia unusual. There is no director-residency requirement anywhere in the statute, so a board composed entirely of non-residents is lawful. And the company must maintain two addresses inside British Columbia, a registered office and a records office, each with a delivery address open to the public between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on business days, and neither of which may be a post office box. Sales tax is GST at 5% plus a separate provincial sales tax at 7%; there is no HST.

British Columbia at a glance

Choosing the legal form

The province publishes a fixed menu, and the fee, filing route and governing statute all follow from which one you pick. The official list covers the sole proprietorship, general partnership, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, BC corporation, federal corporation, benefit company, community contribution company and cooperative association — the last two respectively "a hybrid entity that bridges the gap between for-profit and non-profit organizations" and "an incorporated membership organization owned and operated by the people who use and benefit from its services" [14].

For the unincorporated forms, registration is about the name: a sole proprietorship or general partnership needs name approval ($30) then registration ($40), and is not required at all if you trade under your own name; a limited partnership costs $165 and a limited liability partnership $275, both paper filing only [13]. Incorporating a BC limited company costs $350 plus the $30 name approval; an unlimited liability company, which must carry "B.C. Unlimited Liability Company" in its name and whose shareholders carry liability, costs $1,000; registering an entity created elsewhere as an extraprovincial company costs the same $350 plus $30 as a fresh incorporation [10] [1]. A benefit company — a for-profit company "that commits to promoting one or more public benefits" — files through the BC Registry application rather than Corporate Online [8].

A federal corporation is on that list because the Canada Business Corporations Act is a real alternative for activity that will not stay in one province. It is not a way around British Columbia: a federal corporation carrying on business here registers extraprovincially on the same terms as an Alberta or Ontario one. The trade-off is set out in the federal-versus-provincial comparison.

Stage 1: the Name Request

British Columbia separates naming from incorporating. You obtain an approved Name Request first, and the incorporation application quotes its reservation number [1].

The registry expects a three-part name: a distinctive element, which "is what sets it apart from other names"; a descriptive element, which "describes the nature of the business"; and a corporate designation, because "incorporated companies, cooperatives and societies must have a corporate designation" [9]. Published rejection categories include obscene wording, slurs, the word "government", a well-known trademark used without consent, and anything implying a Crown connection.

The fee is $30 standard, and the registry says processing takes "about 7 to 14 days"; priority service costs $100 for approval within 1 to 2 business days [8]. "Once a name request is approved, it's reserved for 56 days", which the statute frames as 56 days "or any longer period that the registrar considers appropriate" [9] [1].

If a deadline matters, the numbered-company route removes the name request from the critical path: "If you wish to incorporate using an incorporation number as the company, name approval is not required", and a trade name can be adopted later [9]. Note also that name approval is a registry decision about confusion between records, not a trademark search.

Stage 2: articles, incorporation agreement and the application

The Act builds a company from three documents, only one of which is filed.

Section 10 forms a company by entering into an incorporation agreement, filing an incorporation application, and complying with Part 2. The agreement records each incorporator's agreement to take shares in that incorporator's own name, with a signature line, the date of signing and the number of shares taken. The articles set the company's rules and must state every restriction on its business and powers, and the special rights or restrictions on each class and series of shares [1].

Neither is filed. The registry says the incorporation agreement "must be signed by each person (incorporator) forming the company" and is kept in the company's records [8]. What is filed is the incorporation application, containing the notice of articles, which sets out the company name, each director's full name and prescribed address, the registered office and the records office each by mailing and delivery address, and the authorized share structure [1].

A named individual, the completing party, carries a statutory duty: before filing, examine both documents to confirm each incorporator's original signature sits on a properly labelled line, designate exactly those signatories as incorporators, and complete the completing-party statement; afterwards, deliver the originally signed documents to the records office [1]. This is "also the individual who files the Incorporation Application electronically on Corporate Online" [11].

The company is incorporated on the date and time the application is filed, unless a later date is specified, and the registrar then issues the certificate [1]. British Columbia therefore has no meaningful processing time for incorporation itself; the delay lives in the name request. Nor does it funnel filings through intermediaries — founders are told to "Apply using Corporate Online" directly [8], which is materially different from a province where every incorporation must pass through an authorized service provider.

Stage 3: directors and the residency question

The claim that British Columbia imposes no director-residency requirement is correct, and it can be verified without trusting any incorporation service.

Section 120 states the whole quantitative rule: "A company must have at least one director and, in the case of a public company, must have at least 3 directors." Section 124 then gives the complete list of disqualifications — under 18, judicially found incapable of managing one's own affairs, subject to an uncancelled certificate of incapability, an undischarged bankrupt, or convicted of certain business or fraud offences [2]. Residency and citizenship appear nowhere. One non-resident individual may be sole director and sole shareholder.

Two qualifications belong beside that. A director must give a real address: either the office where the individual "can usually be served with records between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on business days" or the individual's residence, and in either case "the delivery address must not be a post office box" [11]. It may be foreign, but it must be somewhere records can be served, and it is public.

And the absence of a corporate-law residency rule says nothing about tax. A corporation incorporated in Canada after 26 April 1965 is deemed resident here, while the common-law test separately asks where "central management and control" is exercised, and subsection 250(5) can deem a corporation non-resident under a treaty [29]. A board meeting entirely abroad is lawful — section 140 allows participation "by telephone or other communications medium" unless the articles say otherwise [2] — and still raises a tax question worth advice.

A change in the directors, or in a director's address, must reach the registrar within 15 days, for $20 plus a $1.50 BC OnLine service fee, with "a separate notice … required for each date of change" [12].

Stage 4: two offices, both inside British Columbia

This is what surprises founders arriving from Ontario or Quebec, and it decides whether an out-of-province address service can be used at all.

Section 11 requires the notice of articles to identify the registered office by mailing and delivery address and — in a separate paragraph — the records office by mailing and delivery address. Section 34 requires both and permits them to share a location [1]. The registry's form instructions then supply the operative constraint in near-identical terms:

• Registered office: "The delivery address must be for a location in British Columbia that is accessible to the public between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on business days for the delivery of records or notices. The address must not be a post office box."
• Records office: "The delivery address must be for a location in British Columbia that is accessible to the public between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on business days for inspection of records. The address must not be a post office box." [11]

Three things follow. The offices are legally distinct even when co-located, so a records arrangement with a lawyer does not by itself answer the registered-office field. Each address must be in British Columbia, which rules out an address anywhere else in Canada — Montreal included. And the public-access window is not decorative: it is how service and inspection actually happen.

The registered office's mailing address does separate work: it receives the annual report reminder and "any notice of dissolution from the Corporate Registry should the company fail to file its annual reports for two consecutive years" [11]. A company that lets it go stale can be struck without seeing the warning. Changing either office is a $20 filing, effective 12:01 a.m. Pacific the day after it is made [12].

Stage 5: the transparency register

British Columbia's beneficial-ownership regime is a records-office obligation, not a filing. Part 4.1 requires a private company to take reasonable steps to maintain a transparency register of its significant individuals [3].

An individual is significant on either of two independent bases: holding 25% or more of the issued shares or of the votes at general meetings, or being able to elect or remove a majority of the directors. Each entry records full name, date of birth, last known address, citizenship, Canadian tax residency, the dates of becoming and ceasing to be significant, and a description of how the individual is significant — recorded within 30 days of the company becoming aware of it [3] [15].

Access is narrow — current directors, police and the RCMP, the CRA and BC tax authorities, the BC Securities Commission, the BC Financial Services Authority, FINTRAC and the Law Society of British Columbia, "between 9 am to 4 pm Monday through Friday" — and nothing is submitted: "There is no requirement to send the transparency register anywhere. The transparency register is a document that will be kept in the company's records office" [15].

The penalties are not nominal. Section 427.1 makes it an offence for a private company's register to name someone who is not a significant individual, omit one who is, or contain materially false or misleading information, and extends liability to directors and officers who authorize, permit or acquiesce. Section 428(2.1) sets the maximum at "$100 000" for a person other than an individual and "$50 000" for an individual [5].

What is and is not public today

Two claims circulate and both need care.

The first is that British Columbia now operates a public register of company owners. It has legislated toward one: Bill 20 – 2023 creates a registrar's transparency register whose limited fields — full name, year of birth, citizenship status — become publicly searchable 90 days after filing. But its commencement table brings sections 1 to 14 and 16 to 23 into force only "By regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council" [6], and the consolidation current to 1 September 2026 contains no in-force filing obligation and no public central register [3]. Treat it as pending, verify before relying on either answer, and keep the internal register regardless.

The second is that the Land Title and Survey Authority administers the corporate transparency register. It does not. The LTSA administers the Land Owner Transparency Registry, "a registry of information about individuals who are deemed to have an indirect interest in land", under the Land Owner Transparency Act; its public search opened on 30 April 2021 and pre-existing interests had to be reported by 30 November 2022 [16]. That regime is real, public, and will catch a BC company that buys land — but it is a land registry, not a companies registry, and neither obligation substitutes for the other.

Stage 6: business number and tax accounts

British Columbia is wired into the federal business number. The CRA states that "You will receive a BN when you register or incorporate with the following provinces: Alberta, British Columbia, …", and that incorporating in one of them also produces "a CRA corporation income tax (RC) program account as a part of that process" [27].

Two habits follow. Locate the assigned BN and RC account before contacting the CRA, because attempting a fresh registration is how a company acquires duplicate identities. And do not read the automatic RC account as registration for anything else: GST/HST, payroll and import/export are separate accounts opened when the activity requires them.

On corporate income tax, the general rate has been 12.0% since 1 January 2018 and the small business rate 2.0% since 1 April 2017, and "The lower small business rate applies to active business income up to the B.C. business limit of: $500,000 effective January 1, 2010" [18]. Those are the provincial layers only; the federal rate sits on top, and the small business rate depends on Canadian-controlled private corporation status, which foreign control can remove.

Sales tax: GST plus PST, no HST

British Columbia is a non-participating province, so a vendor here deals with two taxes, two registrations and two returns.

Federally, registration becomes mandatory once the small-supplier threshold is crossed. A person remains a small supplier while the "total amount of all revenues (before expenses) from your worldwide taxable supplies" is "$30,000 or less in any single calendar quarter and in the last four consecutive calendar quarters" [28]. The threshold counts worldwide supplies, not British Columbia sales, which catches founders who assume a small local turnover keeps them out.

Provincially, "Generally, the rate of PST is 7% on the purchase or lease price of goods and services, with some exceptions" [19], and PST registration has its own trigger set.

The small-seller exception is narrower than its name suggests, because it has a premises test as well as a revenue test: "$10,000 or less in gross revenue from all retail sales of eligible goods, software and services in the previous 12 months" with the next 12 estimated the same, and the seller must "not maintain established business premises and … not regularly make retail sales from established commercial premises". A small seller does not collect PST but is "ineligible for certain PST exemptions, such as the exemption for goods obtained solely for resale" [21]. A storefront ends small-seller status regardless of revenue, and the lost resale exemption means it is not automatically the cheaper answer.

One change is imminent rather than hypothetical: businesses that "provide, on or after October 1, 2026, accounting services, architectural services, engineering or geoscience services, non-residential real estate services or security services in B.C." fall inside the registration rules [21]. A professional-services firm incorporating this month should plan for that date rather than discover it.

Employees: three separate provincial obligations

Hiring triggers a federal payroll account and, separately, up to three provincial items.

WorkSafeBC. "All employers are legally required to have WorkSafeBC coverage unless the employer is exempt", and a business hiring workers "full-time, part-time, casual, or contract" needs to register [24]. Non-registration is not a paperwork risk: it "is against the law", and an unregistered employer "could be responsible for both the worker's claim costs and your unpaid premiums" if a worker — including a shareholder — is injured [25].

Personal Coverage. Owners are the gap. A sole proprietor, a partner, or an owner-shareholder working in their own company is not automatically covered, and buys Personal Coverage — the current name for what older material calls Personal Optional Protection — as separate insurance paying "health care, wage-loss, and rehabilitation benefits if you're injured at work" [26]. Founders who assume the company account covers them are frequently wrong.

Employer health tax. The EHT "is an annual tax on an employer's B.C. remuneration paid to employees and former employees in a calendar year beginning on January 1, 2019", and it "is separate and distinct from remitting source deductions or MSP premiums" [22].

Note the shape of the top band: above $1,500,000 the rate applies to the whole payroll, not only the excess. Registration is required of "Employers with B.C. remuneration greater than the exemption amount in a calendar year", through eTaxBC, "by December 31 of the first calendar year you're required to pay the employer health tax." The return is "due March 31 of the following calendar year", with instalments on 15 June, 15 September and 15 December where the previous year's tax exceeded $2,925 [23]. A first-year company with one or two founder salaries usually sits under the exemption, but the threshold has to be monitored as headcount grows.

Provincial incentives

British Columbia's published corporate credits are narrow and rate-specific, which makes them easy to overstate. The scientific research and experimental development credit gives a qualifying Canadian-controlled private corporation, or an eligible Canadian public corporation, "a refundable tax credit of 10% of the lesser of: The corporation's SR&ED qualified BC expenditure for the tax year, or The expenditure limit". The limit is $6 million; "Budget 2026 made the scientific research and experimental development (SR&ED) tax credit permanent"; and a non-refundable 10% component covers qualified BC expenditures beyond the refundable claim, carried forward 10 years or back 3 [30]. The credit rewards work already carried out in British Columbia by people paid there, and the refundable portion turns on CCPC status — exactly what foreign control removes.

Operating across borders

British Columbia's rule for entities formed elsewhere is statutory and short. Section 375(1): "A foreign entity must register as an extraprovincial company in accordance with this Act within 2 months after the foreign entity begins to carry on business in British Columbia." The Act then deems a foreign entity to carry on business here if its name is listed in a telephone directory or appears in an advertisement giving a British Columbia address or telephone number, if it has in BC "a resident agent, or a warehouse, office or place of business", or if "it otherwise carries on business in British Columbia" [4].

That catches more than a lease — advertising a British Columbia phone number is enough on the face of the section. Two further obligations attach: the company "must ensure that (a) it has one or more attorneys, or (b) under its charter … its head office is in British Columbia", and it files an annual report "within 2 months after each anniversary of the date of its registration" [4]. Registration costs $350 plus the $30 name approval, though section 376(2) exempts a federal corporation from the name-reservation step [10].

The mirror image matters as much: a BC company beginning to carry on business in Alberta, Ontario or Quebec meets that province's regime on that province's definition. Do the analysis province by province and keep the reasoning even where the answer is "not yet".

What the New West Partnership actually changes

British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are parties to the New West Partnership Trade Agreement, which BC Registries says "removes the need to file multiple registrations and reports between B.C., Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan", so businesses "don't need to: Pay business registry fees in B.C.; File annual reports in other provinces" [17].

Read that carefully, because it is routinely overstated into "you do not have to register". You do: search and reserve the name, "fee required"; then "Submit registration through the appropriate province's registry (no fee)"; and "Registration must be completed within 2 months of starting to do business in B.C." The mechanism is B.C. Reg. 88/2009, which designates Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, has the registrar receive the registration statement electronically from the other province's registrar, and exempts the resulting extraprovincial company "from section 380 of the Act and items 2, 4, 5 and 15 of the Schedule to the Act" — the annual report and the associated fees [7].

What NWPTA does not touch matters too. The attorney requirement survives: BC Registries tells NWPTA registrants to "Have an attorney represent them in each province where they do business", and warns that if one resigns and is not replaced "the corporation's extraprovincial registration could be cancelled". Municipal licensing sits outside the agreement entirely, and sole proprietorships and general partnerships "doing business in other provinces not need to register", though "They do need to have licenses and permits required by local governments where they operate" [17].

Licences: a municipal layer, not a provincial one

British Columbia issues no general provincial business licence. The operative licence is municipal, and it is not optional. Vancouver's position is categorical: "Any organization doing business in or from Vancouver must have a business licence" [35].

Three details matter more than the fee.

The licence follows activity, not premises. Vancouver defines an "out-of-town business" as "a business being carried on in the City of Vancouver, but with the business office located outside of Vancouver", and it needs a licence like anyone else — a company based in Burnaby serving Vancouver clients on site is inside the by-law.

Vancouver will not accept a federal incorporation on its own. Where "the business is incorporated outside of BC" the city requires a "BC Statement of Registration (as an Extraprovincial Company)", and adds bluntly: "A federal certificate of incorporation issued by Industry Canada won't be accepted" [35]. That is the clearest practical proof that federal incorporation does not substitute for British Columbia registration — skip the extraprovincial filing and you are stopped at the municipal counter.

The licence expires on a fixed date rather than an anniversary: "Your business licence expires on December 31 each year. Renewal notices are sent out in November". The published one-time application fee is $74 and the annual fee "depends on the business type", pro-rated in the first year [35]. The web page and the city's own by-law schedule do not agree to the dollar on that application fee, so confirm it before budgeting precisely.

The Metro West Inter-Municipal Business Licence covers six cities with one licence, but only for construction and trades businesses and for health care providers who visit clients at home [35]. An ordinary consulting or software company operating across Metro Vancouver gets several licences, not one. Sector licences — liquor, cannabis, financial services, health professions, trades, childcare — sit on top. Incorporation authorizes none of them.

Immigration streams tied to British Columbia

This is the row most province guides skip, and the answers changed materially in 2026.

BC PNP Entrepreneur Immigration is open. WelcomeBC describes three business routes: entrepreneurs "can choose to apply to one of the following streams: Base stream or Regional stream", while foreign corporations "can apply to the program's Strategic Projects stream" [31]. The Regional route is no longer a pilot: the program guide's revision log records that on 27 May 2024 the BC PNP "Removed references to 'pilot' as the Regional stream is now an ongoing part of the BC PNP" [32].

An FTE job means "a position of at least 30 hours per week on average and 1,560 hours per year", and "Independent contractors will not be considered as part of your job creation requirement" [32]. Registration does not guarantee an invitation: a qualified registration "will be placed in a qualified pool where it will remain active for up to six months, or until you receive an invitation to apply". Fees are $300 to register and $3,500 to apply. Some business types are ineligible outright, including "bed and breakfasts, hobby farms and home-based businesses", real estate and insurance brokerage, and "goods trading businesses (e.g. import/export), unless value add is demonstrated". The Strategic Projects stream requires "a minimum equity investment of at least $500,000 CAD directed towards the corporation's operations in B.C." and three new full-time jobs per key staff member, to a maximum of five [31].

The federal Start-up Visa is paused. IRCC's status line reads: "Status: Paused — We're not currently accepting new applications. The Start-Up Visa Program was paused on June 30, 2026. We'll continue to process applications we accepted before this date" [33]. The associated work permit closed earlier, on 19 December 2025. Any plan built on the Start-up Visa needs rebuilding.

You cannot hire yourself through a skilled-worker nomination. IRCC records that "in accordance with the Federal-Provincial/Territorial Agreements, self-employed people are not eligible for nomination"; the entrepreneur streams exist to fill that gap. The sequence also runs the other way from what founders expect: the applicant "must have a paragraph R205(a) work permit support letter" from the province, then implements the business plan and meets provincial requirements "usually for 2 years" before a confirmation of nomination, and only then moves to a work permit under R204(c). The pre-nomination permit runs "As per the offer of employment, to a maximum of 2 years" [34].

If you are outside Canada

British Columbia is one of the easier Canadian jurisdictions in which a non-resident can own and direct a company, and one of the harder ones in which to do it entirely by remote control. The distinction is worth holding precisely.

What the corporate law permits. There is no director-residency requirement. Section 120 requires one director for a private company, and section 124's disqualification list — age, incapacity, undischarged bankruptcy, certain convictions — says nothing about residence or citizenship [2]. A single non-resident can be sole shareholder, sole director and sole officer, and directors may meet "by telephone or other communications medium" unless the articles say otherwise [2]. No Canadian intermediary is required to file.

What you cannot do from abroad. The two statutory offices must exist in British Columbia. Each needs a delivery address that "must be for a location in British Columbia that is accessible to the public between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on business days", and neither may be a post office box [11]. A foreign founder therefore needs a real arrangement with someone in British Columbia — commonly a law firm or an accountant — who will accept service and hold the records. That is a substantive engagement, not a mailbox. The registered-office mailing address is also where the registry sends the notice that begins dissolution after two years of unfiled annual reports, so a stale foreign address is a genuine way to lose the company. A director's own address may be foreign, but it must be a residence or an office where records can be served in those hours, it cannot be a post office box, and it is public.

Tax follows differently from corporate law. A corporation incorporated in Canada after 26 April 1965 is deemed resident for income-tax purposes, the common-law test independently asks where central management and control is exercised, and subsection 250(5) can deem a corporation non-resident under a treaty [29]. Separately, foreign control can cost Canadian-controlled private corporation status, which both the 2.0% small business rate and the refundable SR&ED credit depend on [18] [30]. A non-resident-owned BC company can pay 12.0% where a resident-owned one pays 2.0% on the same profit. Model that before incorporating, not after.

Sales tax has its own non-resident layer. For GST/HST, security is generally required from a registrant without a permanent establishment in Canada; none is required where estimated Canadian supplies are "not more than $100,000 annually and your net tax will be between $3,000 remittable and $3,000 refundable annually", and otherwise the initial amount is "50% of your estimated net tax … during the 12-month period after you register", subject to a $5,000 minimum and a $1 million maximum [28]. For BC PST, an outside seller can be caught with no revenue threshold at all if it holds inventory in the province or supplies software or telecommunication services to solicited BC customers [20].

Coming to run the business is a separate application. Ownership does not grant entry. The realistic routes are the BC PNP entrepreneur streams with their net-worth, investment and job-creation commitments, reached through a provincial work-permit support letter [31] [34], or an intra-company transfer where a genuine foreign parent already employs the person. The Start-up Visa is not available [33].

Banking is the last gate and the least documented. No public source reviewed for this page commits any bank to opening an account for a non-resident-owned BC company without attendance, or to accepting any particular address document. Confirm a remote opening in writing with a named person at a named institution before booking travel. The mechanics are in the open-from-abroad guide and the non-resident research; the province-by-province version of this decision is in the British Columbia from abroad guide and the Track B pillar.

The annual maintenance calendar

British Columbia's recurring obligations key off four different dates: the recognition date, the calendar year, the tax year and the event date.

The annual report deserves its own calendar entry, because the consequence is terminal rather than financial: "Failure to comply with the filing requirements of the Business Corporations Act may result in a company being dissolved and struck from the register" [12]. Restoring a struck company costs $350 [10].

Failure modes and corrective action

Readiness checklist

• Legal form chosen from the province's own list rather than a generic template [14]
• Name Request submitted, or the numbered-company route deliberately chosen [9]
• A real British Columbia registered-office delivery address and a records office arranged, each with the occupant's agreement and someone holding custody of the records
• Articles and share structure decided before filing, the incorporation agreement signed by every incorporator, and a completing party identified who understands the statutory examination duty [1]
• After incorporation: certificate and notice of articles archived, original signed documents delivered to the records office, shares actually issued and the registers opened
• Transparency register built, tracing every ownership layer to individuals [3]
• Business number and RC account located rather than re-registered, and the recognition-date anniversary calendared with a two-month window [27]
• GST/HST and PST positions assessed separately, against every applicable scenario [20]
• WorkSafeBC coverage applied for before the first worker starts, and Personal Coverage decided for each working owner [24]
• Municipal business licence obtained for every municipality where the business operates, and extra-provincial registration analysed for every other province [35]

Address roles and banking

Address questions cause more avoidable trouble in British Columbia than in most provinces, because there are two mandatory in-province offices rather than one, and each has its own truth test.

The BC registered office and the BC records office both need a British Columbia delivery address, public 9 a.m.–4 p.m., never a post office box — so a Montreal address can fill neither [11]. A director's address must be a residence, or an office where that director can actually be served in those hours, and never a stand-in for a residence. A CRA mailing address can legitimately be a real mail service the CRA accepts. If you incorporate federally instead, a Quebec registered office is available on the terms in the federal corporation guide. And a bank's "business address" is whichever field that institution is asking for, decided by the institution.

No public source reviewed for this page states that any bank accepts any particular address document for a British Columbia company. Bank onboarding is covered institution by institution in the RBC, TD, BMO, Scotiabank, CIBC and Desjardins guides. Ask which field the institution is filling, and which document it accepts, before subscribing to anything.

What 2727 can and cannot support

2727 Coworking is a Montreal coworking space in Griffintown providing private offices, desks, meeting rooms and a business-address and mail service. What that can do for a British Columbia company is limited and specific.

It can be a Montreal mailing and correspondence address for a company that genuinely uses it, and the workspace for people actually working in Montreal. If the founder concludes that a Quebec or federal corporation fits the plan better than a BC one, the same address becomes capable of a registered-office role under those regimes — the subject of the federal corporation scenario.

It cannot be the British Columbia registered office or records office of a BC company: the registry requires a British Columbia location publicly accessible between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., and no Montreal address satisfies that [11]. It does not act as an attorney for an extraprovincial company, hold a minute book unless that is separately arranged, determine tax residence or CCPC status, or obtain any approval from a registry, the CRA, a municipality or a bank. No registry, bank or government body has stated that it accepts a 2727 address for any field, and nothing here should be read as such a claim.

Founders abroad choosing a province should start with the Track B guide; founders already in Canada with the Track A guide. The cluster is indexed at the hub, alongside the Ontario, Alberta and Quebec guides.

Research method and limitations

This page was researched and verified on 6 September 2026. Discovery used Exa semantic and keyword search; every landed fact was then read on the official page itself. Statutory text came from the Business Corporations Act consolidation on BC Laws, current to 1 September 2026, and from B.C. Reg. 88/2009. Fees, timelines and procedure came from BC Registries and Online Services, its Form 1 instructions and its INFO 36 guide; rates and deadlines from the BC Ministry of Finance, the CRA and WorkSafeBC; immigration from WelcomeBC and IRCC; licensing from the City of Vancouver. Two BC Registries PDFs were extracted locally with pdftotext because the fetcher could not read their text layer.

Several things could not be verified and are stated as such rather than guessed. The commencement date of the registrar's transparency register and its public search is unknown: Bill 20 – 2023 brings those sections into force only by regulation, and no such regulation appears in the consolidation current to 1 September 2026. No official page states a hard statutory deadline for WorkSafeBC registration after a first hire; only a recommended lead time is published. The City of Vancouver's published application fee and the fee in its own by-law schedule do not match, so no single figure is asserted. No official source states that any BC PNP entrepreneur stream is paused or capped, and none supports the widely repeated claim that a business owner must hold a majority stake to qualify for a significant-benefit work permit — IRCC assesses the question "regardless of what percentage of the business in Canada is owned".

Nothing here was tested by filing: no incorporation, name request, PST or EHT registration, WorkSafeBC application, extraprovincial registration, municipal licence, immigration application or bank account was submitted or opened. Fees, rates, thresholds and program statuses change, sometimes within weeks — the PST expansion to several professional services on 1 October 2026 is an example live at the time of writing. This is educational planning material, not legal, tax, accounting, immigration or banking advice.

Frequently asked questions

Does British Columbia require a Canadian resident director?

No. Section 120 requires at least one director for a private company, and section 124 sets out the complete list of disqualifications, which contains no residency or citizenship condition. A single non-resident may be sole director and sole shareholder. [2]

Can I use a mail-forwarding address as my BC registered office?

No. Both the registered office and the records office need a delivery address in British Columbia that is "accessible to the public between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on business days", and it "must not be a post office box". A mail service that cannot accept service of legal documents at those hours does not meet the requirement. [11]

How much does it cost, and how long does it take?

BC Registries publishes $350 for a BC limited company plus $30 for name approval, and $1,000 for an unlimited liability company; the annual report is $43.39 plus a $1.50 service fee. The incorporation is effective on filing, so the wait is the name request — "about 7 to 14 days", or 1 to 2 business days with $100 priority service. [10] [8]

Is British Columbia's beneficial-ownership register public?

Not today. The transparency register is kept in the company's records office and inspected only by directors and a listed set of authorities. Bill 20 – 2023 would create a partly public registrar's transparency register, but those sections come into force by regulation and are not in the consolidation current to 1 September 2026. [15] [6]

Is the Land Owner Transparency Registry the same thing?

No. LOTR is administered by the Land Title and Survey Authority under the Land Owner Transparency Act and concerns indirect interests in land. It is publicly searchable and will apply to a BC company that acquires property, but it is not the corporate transparency register and neither obligation satisfies the other. [16]

Does the New West Partnership mean I do not have to register in Alberta?

No. It removes BC registry fees and the separate annual report for companies from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and lets the filing go through the home province's registry, but registration is still required within two months and an attorney is still required in each province. Municipal licences are outside the agreement. [17] [7]

If I incorporate federally, do I still deal with British Columbia?

Yes. A federal corporation carrying on business here registers as an extraprovincial company within two months and must have an attorney unless its head office is in the province. Vancouver goes further at the licensing counter: it says a federal certificate of incorporation "won't be accepted" and requires the BC Statement of Registration instead. [4] [35]

Is the federal Start-up Visa still an option for a BC company?

No. IRCC's published status is "Paused — We're not currently accepting new applications. The Start-Up Visa Program was paused on June 30, 2026." The BC PNP entrepreneur streams remain open and are the province-specific route. [33] [31]

Official references

1. BC Laws: Business Corporations Act, Part 2 — Incorporation
2. BC Laws: Business Corporations Act, Part 5 — Directors and officers
3. BC Laws: Business Corporations Act, Part 4.1 — Transparency register
4. BC Laws: Business Corporations Act, Part 11 — Extraprovincial companies
5. BC Laws: Business Corporations Act, Part 13 — Offences and penalties
6. BC Laws: Bill 20 – 2023, Business Corporations Amendment Act, 2023
7. BC Laws: Extraprovincial Companies and Foreign Entities from a Designated Province Regulation, B.C. Reg. 88/2009
8. BC Registries: incorporated companies
9. BC Registries: approval of a business name
10. BC Registries: forms, fees and information packages
11. BC Registries: Form 1 incorporation application and notice of articles instructions
12. BC Registries: Maintaining Your B.C. Company (INFO 36)
13. BC Registries: proprietorships and partnerships
14. Province of British Columbia: choose your business structure
15. Province of British Columbia: transparency register
16. Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia: Land Owner Transparency Registry
17. BC Registries: New West Partnership Trade Agreement
18. BC Ministry of Finance: corporate income tax rates
19. Province of British Columbia: provincial sales tax
20. BC Ministry of Finance: Bulletin PST 001, registering to collect PST
21. BC Ministry of Finance: Bulletin PST 003, small sellers
22. Province of British Columbia: employer health tax overview
23. Province of British Columbia: employer health tax, file and pay
24. WorkSafeBC: who needs coverage
25. WorkSafeBC: consequences of not registering
26. WorkSafeBC: Personal Coverage
27. CRA: when you need a business number
28. CRA: doing business in Canada — GST/HST information for non-residents (RC4027)
29. CRA: residency of a corporation
30. Province of British Columbia: scientific research and experimental development tax credit
31. WelcomeBC: BC PNP for entrepreneurs and businesses
32. BC PNP: Entrepreneur Immigration program guide
33. IRCC: Start-up Visa Program eligibility and status
34. IRCC: provincial business candidates or Quebec self-employed applicants approved for a selection certificate, R205(a) C60
35. City of Vancouver: get a business licence