Start a business in New Brunswick

Direct answer

New Brunswick incorporation is filed online with Service New Brunswick for a $262 government fee and is processed in about two business days. The province's Business Corporations Act imposes no resident-Canadian director requirement: section 63(1) disqualifies only those under nineteen, people found incapable of managing their affairs, non-individuals, bankrupts and certain convicted persons, so a New Brunswick board may be entirely non-resident. The corporation must still keep a registered office at a physical New Brunswick address, and it cannot be a post office box. Sales tax is a single 15% HST. Corporate income tax is 14% general and 2.5% on the first $500,000 of active business income. The annual return costs $60 and falls due on the last day of the month following the anniversary month, with no reminder sent. New Brunswick does keep a register of individuals with significant control, but internally at the registered office rather than as a public filing.

What is different about New Brunswick

Five rules change the plan, and each is one founders usually discover after deciding something.

There is no director-residency test. Section 63(1) sets out the persons disqualified from being a director: anyone under nineteen; anyone found incapable of managing their affairs by a court or tribunal in Canada or elsewhere; a person who is not an individual, unless a body corporate meeting subsection (1.1); a bankrupt; and a person convicted of specified Criminal Code or foreign offences connected with promoting, forming or managing a corporation, or involving fraud, subject to a three-year rule ceasing on a pardon. That is the whole list — no ratio, no "at least one resident Canadian", and nothing repealed in place of one. Note the age: nineteen, a year higher than the federal threshold. [1]

The registered office is a real New Brunswick address. Section 17(1) requires one "at all times" and "within New Brunswick"; section 17(1.1) forbids a post office box. No residency rule for people is not an absence of a presence rule for the company. [1]

The annual return arrives without a reminder. Section 187(1) requires it "on or before the last day of the month following the anniversary month", signed by a director or officer, sent without notice. Most provinces use the anniversary date; New Brunswick uses the month after it. [1]

Names may be English, French, both, or one combined form. Section 8(3) permits a name "in an English form, a French form, an English form and a French form or in a combined English and French form", usable and legally designated in any of them — in the only officially bilingual province, a tool rather than a curiosity. [1]

Business names and partnerships expire. Under the Partnerships and Business Names Registration Act a registered business name or partnership certificate must be renewed every five years. A registration made and forgotten is not permanent. [2]

New Brunswick at a glance

Choosing the legal form

New Brunswick keeps its business forms in three separate statutes, and the statute decides the vocabulary, the deadline and the renewal cycle. Service New Brunswick publishes a Business Structures Wizard through BizPaL to compare the options before anything is registered. [16]

Two features matter. New Brunswick non-profits are still created by letters patent rather than articles, so a plan written for a federal not-for-profit corporation will not match the document names. [7]

And the business-name duty is time-limited unusually. Section 9(1) of the Partnerships and Business Names Registration Act requires a person carrying on business "for trading, manufacturing or mining purposes" otherwise than as a member of a firm, who uses a name other than their own — or their own plus "and company" or a word indicating a plurality of persons — to register a certificate within two months of commencing; section 3(1)(a) sets the same window for a partnership. Both renew every five years, and section 9(6) requires a cessation certificate when the name stops being used. A separate quirk sits in section 9(2): a person trading under another person's name without addition must add "Registered" or "Reg'd." after it — worth reading before printing signage on an acquired business. That statutory phrase is narrow and dated, and read literally may not reach a purely service business; no official page resolves how the registrar applies it today, so confirm the scope with the Corporate Registry rather than assuming either way. [2]

The name

Service New Brunswick states that changing a corporation's name requires a NUANS (Name Search) report done within the last 90 days, and that no NUANS report is needed for a numbered corporation. The registry publishes that rule in the context of Articles of Amendment. Treat 90-day currency as what the registry expects for a named corporation, and confirm the first-incorporation requirement before paying a search house — the fee schedule contains no government name-search fee, because NUANS is a commercial product at a price no government page publishes. [9]

Three statutory rules constrain the name. Section 8(1) requires "Limited", "Limitée", "Incorporated", "Incorporée" or "Corporation", or "Ltd.", "Ltée", "Inc." or "Corp.", to form part of it other than in a figurative or descriptive sense — with the French elements as equals, not translations. Section 10(1)(a) prohibits a name that is or is deceptively similar to that of another New Brunswick corporation, a Part XVII-registered body corporate, a Companies Act company, a limited partnership, an extra-provincial partnership that has filed a declaration, or a registered firm or person, unless that party consents and generally undertakes to change its own name within six months — so the prohibition reaches across all four New Brunswick registers. And section 9(2) says that on request the Director shall assign a designating number as the name, while section 9(1) allows a 90-day reservation; a numbered company avoids the NUANS cost and the collision risk entirely and can still register a readable business name. [1]

Search first. A per-transaction registry search costs $3.00 by credit card, or $50.00 per month unlimited. At $3.00 a look it is the cheapest step in the sequence. [13]

Incorporating

Incorporation is three forms — Form 1 Articles of Incorporation, Form 2 Notice of Registered Office, Form 4 Notice of Directors — and Service New Brunswick states plainly that "You are able to file your incorporation documents electronically with Corporate Registry", through its online Business Registration System. [9] [14]

Filing online is $50 cheaper and as fast as paying the paper expedited premium — an unusually clean incentive. Starred fees "include mandatory Royal Gazette publication fees of $12.00", so $262 is not a base figure with a gazette charge to follow. [4] [12]

Share structure. The articles must state the classes and maximum number of shares authorized, any maximum aggregate issue amount, the rights of each class where there is more than one, the directors' authority over series, and — distinctively — par value or a statement that the shares are without par value. New Brunswick retains par value, which most modern Canadian statutes abolished, so a federal template may simply lack the field. With one class, section 22(2) gives every shareholder equal rights to vote, to dividends and to the remaining property on dissolution; with more than one, section 22(3) requires those three rights to attach to at least one class though not all to the same one, and section 22(4) forbids calling a class preference shares without an actual preference. [9]

Issuing shares engages securities law. The registry publishes its guidance "in conjunction with the Financial and Consumer Services Commission" and points to the National Instrument 45-106 exemptions that fit a new company — accredited investor, private issuer, family, friends and business associates, and minimum amount investment — while noting resale restrictions in Multilateral Instrument 45-102 and that the private-issuer exemption depends on transfer restrictions appearing in the constating documents. That restriction must be in the articles, making it an incorporation-day decision. Section 13(3) separately removes capacity, whatever the articles say, for taking public deposits, acting as executor or guardian, providing trust-company fiduciary services, carrying on loan, trust or insurance business, carrying on a business for which another Act provides incorporation, or practising a profession except as that profession's own Act permits — so a professional practice is a question for its regulator before it is one for the registry. [9]

Registered office and records

Section 17 requires a registered office within New Brunswick at all times, forbids a post office box, lets the directors change it unless the articles say otherwise, and requires the change filed within fifteen days — for a $2.00 online convenience fee, or nothing on paper. Records are a separate question with a separate address: section 18(1) requires the articles, by-laws and amendments, any unanimous shareholder agreement, shareholder minutes and resolutions, the notices of directors, and a securities register to be kept at the registered office or another place in New Brunswick designated by the directors. Record that choice in a resolution. [1] [4]

This is not a technicality. Section 139(1)(e) makes uncorrected non-compliance with section 17, 18(1) or (4), or 19 a ground on which the Director may dissolve the corporation if not rectified within 60 days of notice — and section 139(2)(a) sends that notice by ordinary mail to the registered office, with publication in The Royal Gazette. A registered office that does not reliably receive and forward mail is a route to being dissolved without knowing. [1]

Keep an address table with one truthful row per role: registered office, records location, CRA mailing address, the CRA physical address where activity actually happens, the books-and-records address, each operating location, the WorkSafeNB account address, and each director's own address. Writing one convenient address into every field is exactly how a corporation ends up misdescribed on a filing.

Directors

A New Brunswick corporation must have one or more directors, with the number or the minimum and maximum set by by-law subject to the articles; a Securities Act reporting issuer must not have fewer than three. On residency the answer needs no hedging: section 63(1) contains no residency condition, so the board may be composed entirely of people living outside Canada. That is a real advantage over the federal Canada Business Corporations Act, which sets a resident-Canadian ratio. It is also narrower than it sounds — it removes a residency requirement for directors and removes nothing else, since sector licensing, professional-body rules, investment review, contracts and tax analysis all continue on their own terms. [1] [9]

Section 63(3) is a trap for remote incorporations: a person elected or appointed is not a director unless they were present and did not refuse, or, if absent, consented in writing before the appointment or within ten days after it, or have acted. Collect those consents. Section 63(2) confirms that, unless the articles say otherwise, a director need not hold shares. Keep four roles distinct in the records — shareholder, director, officer and signing authority — because incorporation does not merge them, and having no directors at all is its own ground for dissolution under section 139(1)(d). [1]

The register of individuals with significant control

New Brunswick has a beneficial-ownership regime whose shape is the opposite of the federal one. Service New Brunswick states that "On June 10, 2022, amendments to the Business Corporations Act came into effect requiring corporations in New Brunswick to create and maintain a register of individuals with significant control", and Part IX.1 carries the detail. [10]

Who is caught. Section 99.11(1) captures an individual who, in a significant number of shares, is the registered holder, is the beneficial owner, or has direct or indirect control or direction over them — or any combination. Section 99.2 defines a significant number as any number carrying 25% or more of the voting rights attached to all outstanding voting shares, or equal to 25% or more of all outstanding voting shares. Section 99.11(2) catches individuals holding jointly, or acting under an agreement to exercise rights jointly or in concert. [1]

What is recorded, and how often. Section 99.3 requires each individual's name, date of birth and last known address; jurisdiction of residence for income tax purposes; the dates they became or ceased to qualify; how they qualify, including their interests and rights in shares; each identification step taken; and any other prescribed information. Reasonable steps are required at least once each financial year, new information must be recorded within 15 days, a shareholder must answer the corporation's request as soon as possible, and a former individual's personal information is disposed of within one year after the sixth anniversary of cessation. The register may be "a logbook, database or spreadsheet", and Service New Brunswick publishes a template. [1] [10]

Where it lives, and who sees it. The register stays with the corporation at its registered office or another prescribed place: it is not filed with the registry and not public. Section 99.4 requires disclosure to the Director on request, and a copy or specified information to a prescribed investigative body on request — which Service New Brunswick describes as providing copies "to law enforcement, tax and other authorities, as prescribed in the legislation, upon request". So the corporation carries a full transparency obligation without a public ownership filing, a materially different privacy posture from a federal corporation. Non-compliance by the corporation, and a shareholder's unjustified failure to respond, are category F offences. One wording trap: Service New Brunswick's page says the register sits at the "Head Office", which is not the statutory term — follow the Act. [1] [10]

Business number and program accounts

New Brunswick and the CRA "have agreed to implement the CRA Business Number (BN) as a common business identifier for businesses dealing with New Brunswick departments and agencies", so the federal number is also the provincial one. Service New Brunswick describes the New Brunswick account BN as a 15-digit number assigned in conjunction with the CRA — the nine-digit BN plus a two-letter program identifier and a four-digit reference number — and notes it does not obtain business numbers for condominium corporations. [11]

The CRA describes the BN as "a unique 9-digit business number (BN) that identifies your business", and says that when you register for a program such as GST/HST or payroll, "a program identifier and reference number are added to your existing BN". The discipline is that a corporation has one BN with accounts added to it. Open only the accounts the activities require: adding accounts speculatively creates filing obligations with penalties attached to nothing. [19]

HST at 15%

New Brunswick is a participating province with a single harmonized tax. GNB Finance and Treasury Board states that the HST "is composed of the federal GST (5%) and a provincial component of 10%", is "applied to the same base of goods and services as the federal GST base", and that "The HST rate is 15%". Harmonization took effect 1 April 1997 under the Comprehensive Integrated Tax Coordination Agreement signed on 18 October 1996, so there has been no separate provincial sales tax to register for since. The CRA administers the HST for all participating provinces, so registrants "collect one sales tax and remit and report to one government agency" — the practical simplification of operating here rather than in a GST-plus-PST province. Compare the regimes on the sales-tax comparison. [18]

When you must register. The test is federal and does not vary by province: you are within the small-supplier exclusion at or under $30,000 of taxable supplies over four consecutive calendar quarters, must register once you exceed $30,000, and if you exceed it in a single calendar quarter must charge tax on the supply that took you over. Voluntary registration below the threshold is available and often right, because it lets a pre-revenue corporation recover input tax credits on New Brunswick purchases at 15% instead of absorbing them. [20]

New Brunswick also runs targeted relief on the provincial 10% component: a point-of-sale rebate on printed books, audio recordings and scriptures, effectively taxing them at 5%; a refund on property and services used directly in university research and development, claimed on form HST-R-02; and a refund on motor vehicles specially equipped with a wheelchair or scooter lift or auxiliary driving controls. [18]

Corporate income tax

New Brunswick runs no corporate tax administration of its own. GNB states that "New Brunswick's corporate income tax is administered and collected by the federal government through the Canada Revenue Agency" and that its rates apply to "federally defined New Brunswick taxable income". There is one T2 filed with the CRA, not a separate provincial corporate return. [17]

GNB explains that the small business rate "applies to active business income of Canadian controlled private corporations (CCPCs)", that the benefit "is reduced for CCPCs with taxable capital of more than $10 million and is not applicable to CCPCs with more than $50 million in taxable capital", and that for tax years starting after 6 April 2022 the federal reduction range moved to $10–50 million of taxable capital. Two cautions: the published table ends at 2025, so confirm the current year with the CRA rather than extrapolating; and the 2.5% rate depends on CCPC status, which turns on control, including control by non-residents. A New Brunswick certificate and registered office do not make a corporation a CCPC. [17]

WorkSafeNB and payroll

Workers' compensation is a no-fault system under the Workers' Compensation Act, administered by WorkSafeNB: a covered worker gives up the right to sue the employer in exchange for compensation and rehabilitation services.

When coverage is mandatory. "all employers with three or more workers at any time during the year must register for mandatory coverage", and those workers "may be full-time, part-time, casual workers or non-registered contractors, subcontractors or brokers" — so the threshold is counted across the whole year and across contractor arrangements, not on a single payroll date. Registration is required "within 15 days of the start of the business", with an estimate of assessable earnings. Fishing-industry employers register at 25 or more workers. Below three workers, voluntary coverage may be requested where the employer has two or more work contracts, but not where those workers work exclusively for one principal, who is responsible for them instead. Personal coverage may be requested for a non-salaried officer of an incorporated company, for proprietors, partners and their spouses, and for the self-employed with two or more contracts, and "may not be less than $12,000 or greater than the maximum annual assessable earnings". Founders often miss that last point: an incorporated owner-manager taking dividends rather than salary is not automatically covered. [21]

What it costs. Premiums are charged per $100 of assessable earnings. The 2026 average assessment rate is $1.10 per $100 of payroll, announced on 2 October 2025 as unchanged and "maintaining the lowest rate in New Brunswick's history", down from $1.18 in 2024 and "expected to remain the second lowest in the country", alongside $53.2 million in performance refunds. The 2026 maximum assessable earnings figure is $85,800, up from $84,200 in 2025. Employers whose premiums fall below $150 pay the minimum assessment of $150. [24] [23] [21]

How your rate is set. WorkSafeNB classifies employers by industry rather than by each worker's occupation, using NAICS-based codes, sorts them into 76 industry groups by five-year accident costs and risk, then assigns a rate group. Experience rating is automatic at an average annual premium of $2,000 or more and can move the rate down by up to 40% or up by as much as 80%, under Policy 23-600 and Policy 23-605. One honest caveat: WorkSafeNB's two pages disagree on the number of classification codes — the coverage page says 789, the rate page 804 — so take your classification from your assessment notice, since the code drives the rate. [22]

An employer with staff also needs a CRA payroll account added to the corporation's BN for income tax, CPP and EI source deductions. [19]

Licences, provincial and municipal

New Brunswick has no general provincial business licence, and its three largest cities publish no general municipal one either. What exists is a layer of activity-specific permits, and the province's answer to finding yours is BizPaL.

Fredericton lists building permits, business permits and licences, liquor licences, plumbing permits, sidewalk café permits, sign permits and a taxi driver's licence, directs founders to BizPaL to "obtain a list of permits and licences specific to your business activities", and allocates the risk plainly: "it is the responsibility of the business person to make certain that all required permits and licences are obtained." [31]

Moncton organises its permits around festivals and events, roadwork and utilities, licences and construction, describing the trigger as infrastructure and event impact: "Licences and permits are required for all road closures or detours and for construction work that impacts city streets, sidewalks, water and sewers." [32] Saint John routes permits by topic — animals and pets, demolition, street and sidewalk permits, and planning, building, infrastructure and heritage conservation. [33]

Read that pattern correctly. It does not mean a New Brunswick business faces no municipal obligations: zoning and change-of-use approval, building and occupancy permits, signage, sidewalk seating, food premises, liquor and taxi licensing are all real, and are triggered by what you do and where. It means no single licence discharges the municipal layer. So settle the premises and the activity, run BizPaL for that activity and municipality, then call the city before signing a lease. [16]

Extra-provincial registration

New Brunswick has one of the most concretely drafted "carrying on business" tests in Canada, which makes the question unusually easy to answer honestly. Section 194(1) catches an extra-provincial corporation if: its name appears in any advertisement giving a New Brunswick address; it has a resident agent or representative, or a warehouse, office or place of business in the province; it solicits business there; it owns an estate or interest in New Brunswick land; it is licensed or registered, or required to be, under a New Brunswick Act entitling it to do business; it holds a certificate under the Motor Vehicle Act or a licence under the Motor Carrier Act; or it otherwise carries on business there. Section 194(2) adds that a New Brunswick telephone-directory listing "shall be deemed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary" to be carrying on business. Sections 194(2.1) and (2.2) exclude merely being a partner in a limited partnership or a member of an LLP, and section 195 takes insurers, Foreign Resident Corporations Act corporations, licensed extra-provincial loan and trust companies, and banks outside Part XVII entirely. [1]

The deadline and the consequence. Section 196(1) requires registration "not later than thirty days after it commences to carry on business in New Brunswick". Failure is a category E offence, and section 196(1.2) extends it personally: "whether or not the extra-provincial corporation has been prosecuted or convicted, any director or officer… who knowingly authorizes, permits or acquiesces in such violation" commits the same offence. Directors drifting into New Brunswick activity carry personal exposure for the omission. Section 196(3) permits voluntary registration. [1]

The agent for service. Section 193 defines it as the individual resident in New Brunswick, or a corporation incorporated or continued under the Act, that consents and is appointed — a person or entity, not merely an address. Confusingly the fee schedule charges $50.00 for an "appointment or change of attorney for service"; that is the same filing under a different label, not a second requirement. [1] [4]

What it costs. The statement of registration is $212.00 regular or $312.00 expedited, reinstatement $112.00, electing an anniversary month $25.00. The item to notice is recurring: the extra-provincial annual return is $200.00 e-filed against $60.00 for a New Brunswick corporation — more than three times as much, every year. That arithmetic belongs in the federal versus provincial comparison. [4]

Going the other way. A New Brunswick corporation operating in a neighbouring province registers there on that jurisdiction's rules. New Brunswick is not a party to the New West Partnership Trade Agreement, a western arrangement, and no official source reviewed here establishes an Atlantic mutual-recognition shortcut either. Plan on a separate registration wherever you actually carry on business, and read the guides for Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec.

If you are outside Canada

On corporate law alone, New Brunswick is among the most accessible jurisdictions in Canada for a founder living abroad. That accessibility is real, and narrower than it looks. The full non-resident decision tree is on the founder-outside-Canada track.

Director residency: no obstacle. Section 63(1) contains no residency condition, so a New Brunswick board may be composed entirely of individuals resident outside Canada. You need no Canadian nominee director and no structuring around a resident-Canadian ratio of the kind the federal Act imposes. Two conditions still bite: directors must be at least nineteen, and under section 63(3) an absent appointee is not actually a director until they consent in writing before the appointment or within ten days after it, or have acted. A remote incorporation that skips those consents has a board that does not legally exist. [1]

Registered office: a genuine obstacle, and the one to solve first. Section 17(1) requires a registered office within New Brunswick at all times and section 17(1.1) forbids a post office box. That is not satisfied by an address in Montreal, Toronto or anywhere outside the province, and not by a mailbox number. You need a physical New Brunswick address authorised for use as the registered office that reliably receives and forwards legal mail. Two provisions explain why reliability is the operative word: section 139(1)(e) makes uncorrected non-compliance with section 17 a ground for dissolution if not rectified within 60 days of notice, and section 139(2)(a) sends that notice by ordinary mail to the registered office. A non-resident founder whose New Brunswick address does not forward mail can be dissolved without ever seeing the warning. Section 18(1) separately requires the corporate records at that office or another place in New Brunswick designated by the directors, so the records question needs a New Brunswick answer too. [1]

What you can file remotely. Most of it. Incorporation is filed electronically at $262.00 with a published two-business-day turnaround, and annual returns are filed online at $60.00. Nothing in the incorporation sequence requires attendance in New Brunswick. [9] [14] [12]

What you cannot assume. Three things. First, tax residency and CCPC status are separate from incorporation: the 2.5% small business rate applies to Canadian-controlled private corporations, and control by non-residents is exactly what that test examines, while central management and control exercised abroad raises corporate-residency questions a registry filing cannot answer. Get advice before modelling the low rate. [17]

Second, the transparency register applies to you in full. Part IX.1 requires the register regardless of where owners live and requires each individual's jurisdiction of residence for income tax purposes. Because it is not a public filing, foreign ownership stays out of a public database — but section 99.4 requires the corporation to hand it to the Director or a prescribed investigative body on request, and a shareholder who does not answer the corporation commits an offence. Ownership through a foreign holding company does not stop the analysis; it continues through the layers to the relevant individuals. [1]

Third, a bank account is not part of incorporation and is the step most likely to require you in person. No official source reviewed here promises a New Brunswick corporation a remote account opening. FINTRAC's guidance explains why the questions get hard: opening an account creates a regulated business relationship whose purpose and intended nature the institution must record and keep, which is why a two-week-old corporation is asked about expected activity, countries, transaction patterns and source of funds. Ask your institution for its current product-specific checklist and its position on non-resident signers before booking travel or mailing originals. The open-from-abroad scenario and the non-resident guidance set out how to prepare the file, and bank pages such as RBC record what each institution publishes. A $20.00 certificate of fact or status from the registry is often the document a reviewer actually wants. [30] [8]

Immigration is a fourth, wholly separate question. Incorporating gives you no status, no work authorisation and no right of entry. If you intend to move and run the business yourself, the route is the Business Immigration stream below, which begins with a work permit and ends — if the business performs — with a nomination. The province assesses the entrepreneur, not the company registration.

Immigration streams tied to New Brunswick

New Brunswick runs its nominee program through Immigration New Brunswick alongside the federal-provincial Atlantic Immigration Program. The province selects and nominates; IRCC makes the final decision on permanent residence. The NBPNP's streams are the Skilled Worker stream, the Express Entry stream, the Strategic Initiative and the Business Immigration stream, plus the Critical Worker and Private Career College Graduate pilots. Every stream starts with a free expression of interest through an INB account, and the province is explicit that "Submitting an expression of interest does not guarantee you will receive an invitation, even if you meet the criteria." [25] [26]

The New Brunswick Business Immigration stream

This is the entrepreneur route, and as at this page's verification date it is open, with no notice restricting or pausing it on Immigration New Brunswick's important-notices page. It is for "entrepreneurs who want to start or buy a business in New Brunswick", where "The entrepreneur must run the business and take part in its daily management."

The sequence matters, because the work permit comes early and the nomination last: expression of interest, invitation, complete application, then a work permit. On arrival, report within one month (NBBIS-004), optionally request a business-plan update within three months subject to approval (NBBIS-007), and report the business opening within nine months (NBBIS-005). After six months of business operations under the Business Performance Agreement you may request a nomination (NBBIS-006), then apply for permanent residence. Plan around one reality: Immigration New Brunswick "is unable to provide processing times for individual applications and cannot guarantee that an application will be evaluated or approved before a work permit expires", and maintaining your work authorisation throughout is your responsibility. [27] [28]

If you are hiring rather than founding

The Atlantic Immigration Program is employer-driven: New Brunswick employers "must be designated by Immigration New Brunswick to participate", after which they can hire candidates for roles they could not fill locally and apply for an endorsement of each job offer and candidate, which supports a permanent-residence application. Designation comes first, so start early. [29]

The worker streams are currently constrained. Effective 4 May 2026, invitations under the New Brunswick Experience pathway of the Skilled Worker stream are limited to health care, education and construction "due to limited remaining allocation". Effective 3 February 2026, no expressions of interest are considered under the Skilled Worker and Express Entry streams for candidates in accommodation and food services (NAICS 72), plus excluded NOC codes regardless of sector — though those candidates may still apply if employed by a business outside that sector. [28]

Incentives, and what is not published

Three verified items function as incentives for a small New Brunswick company: the 2.5% small business rate on the first $500,000 of active business income, among the lowest published provincial rates [17]; the Harmonized Sales Tax Act refunds and rebates of the 10% provincial component for printed books, audio recordings and scriptures, university research and development on form HST-R-02, and specially equipped vehicles [18]; and the $53.2 million in WorkSafeNB performance refunds issued alongside the 2026 rate announcement, a real cash-flow item for an employer with a good claims record [24].

Beyond those, be careful. Other provincial and Opportunities NB programmes exist, but no consolidated, current New Brunswick business-incentive page was verified for this guide, so no other programme, amount or credit is listed here. Check directly rather than relying on an aggregator, and never model an incentive you have not confirmed with its administrator this year.

Failure modes

• Missing the annual return because nothing arrived. Section 187(1) requires it "without notice", and default in sending any required fee, notice or document is a dissolution ground. The deadline is the last day of the month following the anniversary month, routinely misremembered as the anniversary itself. Registry reminders and online filing at $60.00 remove the risk cheaply. [1] [15]
• A registered office that does not forward mail. Dissolution notices go by ordinary mail to it, so the failure is silent by construction. [1]
• Letting a business name lapse. Business names and partnership certificates renew every five years, on a clock separate from the annual return. [2]
• Treating a New Brunswick address as marketing. An advertisement giving a New Brunswick address is itself a branch of the carrying-on-business test, and a telephone listing deems it. Putting that address on a website moves the registration question, not answers it. [1]
• Crossing the three-worker line without noticing. The threshold counts three or more workers "at any time during the year", including casual workers and non-registered contractors. A seasonal spike creates an obligation a year-end headcount hides. [21]
• An ISC register that exists but is never refreshed. The duty is reasonable steps each financial year, changes recorded within 15 days, and production on request — so a register created at incorporation and never touched fails it. [1]
• A board that was never validly appointed. Section 63(3) invalidates an absent director who neither consented in writing within ten days nor acted — surfacing when a bank or purchaser reviews the minute book. [1]
• Assuming the 2.5% rate. It depends on CCPC status, which depends on control. [17]

Annual maintenance calendar

Readiness checklist

• The legal form is chosen deliberately, and you know which statute governs it. [16]
• The name is checked on the registry at $3.00, a 90-day NUANS report is in hand for a named corporation, and the legal element is present — or you chose a designating number. [13]
• A physical New Brunswick registered office is arranged, is not a PO box, is authorised in writing and forwards legal mail; the records location is designated by resolution. [1]
• Every director is at least nineteen, not disqualified under section 63(1), and has consented in writing within the ten-day window if absent. [1]
• The share structure states classes, maximums and par value or its absence, and any transfer restriction needed for a securities exemption is in the articles. [9]
• Forms 1, 2 and 4 are filed online at $262.00. [12]
• The ISC analysis runs through every ownership layer, the register exists at the registered office with all six fields, and an annual review is diarised. [10]
• The BN is located, and only the program accounts actually needed are open. [11]
• The HST position is decided against the $30,000 threshold, including whether voluntary registration is worthwhile at 15%. [20]
• The WorkSafeNB position is settled — mandatory, voluntary or personal coverage — within 15 days of starting. [21]
• BizPaL has been run for the actual activity and municipality, and the city called before the lease is signed. [32]
• Every province where the corporation will carry on business is analysed, with the thirty-day rule understood both ways, and the annual-return date is in a calendar rather than a memory. [1]

What 2727 can and cannot support

2727 Coworking is a workspace and business-address provider in Griffintown, Montreal, in Quebec. Being precise matters more here than on most pages, because the statutory answer on the central point is a clear no.

A Montreal address cannot be the registered office of a New Brunswick corporation. Section 17(1) requires the registered office within New Brunswick and section 17(1.1) forbids a post office box; no agreement or service level changes that. Section 18(1) likewise puts the corporate records at that office or another New Brunswick place designated by the directors. And a Montreal address cannot be the agent for service under section 193, which requires an individual resident in the province or a corporation incorporated under the Act. [1]

A 2727 address is a legitimate registered office only for a federal corporation whose articles state Quebec as the registered-office province, or for a Quebec corporation, and a mailing or correspondence address for anyone. Where it is genuinely relevant to a New Brunswick plan is a different structure: a company based in Montreal that registers extra-provincially in New Brunswick because it has crossed one of the section 194 branches. There the Quebec side is where the address question lives, and the New Brunswick side needs a resident agent for service and a $212.00 statement of registration. The federal corporation scenario and the business-address overview set out the address roles.

The reverse risk deserves naming, because an address decision can create it: section 194(1)(a) treats a corporation as carrying on business in New Brunswick if its name appears in an advertisement giving a New Brunswick address, and section 194(2) deems it from a telephone listing. Address choices are facts with registration consequences; never present an address as presence you do not have, in either province.

Nothing here asserts that Service New Brunswick, the CRA, WorkSafeNB, Immigration New Brunswick, any bank or any municipality accepts a 2727 document for any purpose. Each decides for itself against its own current rules, and a service agreement proves only the service it describes. If you are weighing where to incorporate from abroad, start with the founder-outside-Canada track, the resident track and the hub, not with an address.

Research method and limitations

Date verified: 6 September 2026. Every fact comes from New Brunswick's own statutes on the provincial legislation site, Service New Brunswick's Corporate Registry, GNB Finance and Treasury Board, the CRA, WorkSafeNB, Immigration New Brunswick, FINTRAC, BizPaL and the three cities. No law-firm, accountant, incorporation-service or aggregator page was used at any stage, including discovery.

Method: search tools were unavailable for this session, so discovery was done by link-graph crawling from known official roots. Both statutes were downloaded in full as the official bilingual consolidations and read locally, so every statutory quotation comes from the complete consolidation rather than a summary; the legislation site states it is current to 1 January 2024, and the chapter header carries the amendment reference 2023, c. 2. Registry, tax, WorkSafeNB, immigration and municipal pages were fetched directly and their figures transcribed verbatim. CanLII refused automated requests, so the province's own legislation site supplied the statutory text. Every French URL on the French version was taken from the corresponding English page's language toggle and confirmed to resolve. The full fetch log is in this page's research file.

What was not tested: no incorporation was filed, no NUANS report ordered, no annual return submitted, no WorkSafeNB account opened, no HST or payroll account registered, no expression of interest submitted, no municipal permit applied for, and no bank asked to open an account. Nothing here reports lived processing times; the registry's two-business-day and ten-working-day figures are published service statements, not guarantees.

Known limits in the sources: GNB's corporate income tax table ends at 2025, so confirm the current year with the CRA. WorkSafeNB's pages disagree on the number of classification codes and on the employer count, so take your classification from your assessment notice. Service New Brunswick states the 90-day NUANS requirement in the context of a name change rather than a first incorporation, and describes the ISC register as kept at the "head office" where the Act says the registered office or another prescribed place. The business-name duty is framed around business "for trading, manufacturing or mining purposes", and no official source resolves how that dated wording applies to a modern service business. No consolidated current business-incentive page was verified, so no incentive beyond the tax rates, HST rebates and the WorkSafeNB refund is listed. No official source establishes an Atlantic mutual-recognition shortcut for extra-provincial registration, and New Brunswick is not a New West Partnership Trade Agreement party, so none is claimed.

This is educational planning material, not legal, tax, accounting, immigration or banking advice. Fees, rates, thresholds, deadlines and portals change, sometimes annually, so verify every figure against the linked official source in its current version before acting. Where a decision turns on director duties, share structure, securities exemptions, CCPC status, corporate residency or immigration eligibility, get advice from a New Brunswick lawyer, a Canadian tax adviser or a regulated immigration consultant.

Frequently asked questions

Does a New Brunswick corporation need a Canadian director?

No. Section 63(1) lists every disqualification — under nineteen, incapacity found by a court or tribunal, not being an individual, bankruptcy, and certain criminal convictions — and residency is not among them. A New Brunswick board may be entirely non-resident. [1]

What does it cost to incorporate in New Brunswick?

$262.00 filed electronically, $312.00 on paper, or $362.00 on paper expedited, each including a mandatory $12.00 Royal Gazette fee. A NUANS report is bought separately from a private search house at a price no government page publishes. [4]

How long does it take?

Service New Brunswick publishes two business days online, and ten business days on paper or two on receipt of the expedited fee. Those are published service levels, not guarantees for a specific file. [12]

Can the registered office be a mailbox or an out-of-province address?

No, on both counts. Section 17(1) requires a registered office within New Brunswick at all times, and section 17(1.1) states that no corporation shall designate a post office box as a registered office. [1]

When is the annual return due, and will I be reminded?

On or before the last day of the month following the anniversary month, and the statute says it is sent without notice. It costs $60.00 online. Default in sending a required fee, notice or document is a ground on which the Director may dissolve the corporation. [1]

Is New Brunswick's beneficial-ownership register public?

No. Required since 10 June 2022, it is kept by the corporation at its registered office and not filed with the registry. It must be disclosed to the Director, and provided to a prescribed investigative body, on request. [10]

What sales tax applies in New Brunswick?

A single harmonized sales tax of 15% — the 5% federal GST plus a 10% provincial component — on the same base as the federal GST, administered by the CRA. There is no separate provincial sales tax. [18]

Do I have to register for HST immediately?

Not necessarily. The small-supplier threshold is $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters; registration becomes mandatory once you exceed it, and exceeding it in a single quarter means charging tax on the supply that took you over. Voluntary registration is available and often worthwhile at 15%. [20]

Does my one-person corporation need WorkSafeNB coverage?

Mandatory coverage begins at three or more workers at any time in the year, so a one-person corporation is usually below it. But a non-salaried officer of an incorporated company is not automatically covered and can request personal coverage, at not less than $12,000. [21]

Do I need a business licence from Moncton, Fredericton or Saint John?

None of the three publishes a general licence every business must hold — only activity-specific permits for building, signage, sidewalk cafés, liquor, taxis, demolition, roads and events, with founders directed to BizPaL. That is not the same as no municipal obligations, so run BizPaL and call the city before signing a lease. [31] [33]

When must an out-of-province company register in New Brunswick?

Within thirty days of commencing to carry on business there, on a test that includes advertising a New Brunswick address, having a resident agent or place of business, soliciting business, or owning land. Failure is a category E offence, and a director or officer who knowingly authorizes, permits or acquiesces in it commits the same offence. [1]

Does incorporating in New Brunswick help me immigrate?

No. A certificate gives no status, no work authorisation and no right of entry. The Business Immigration stream assesses the entrepreneur, issues a work permit before any nomination, and nominates only after about six months of actual operations under a Business Performance Agreement — and IRCC, not the province, decides permanent residence. [26] [27]

Official references

1. Government of New Brunswick: Business Corporations Act, RSNB c. B-9.1
2. Government of New Brunswick: Partnerships and Business Names Registration Act, RSNB c. P-5
3. Service New Brunswick: Corporate Registry
4. Service New Brunswick: fee schedule, provincial and extra-provincial corporations
5. Service New Brunswick: fee schedule, business names
6. Service New Brunswick: fee schedule, partnership names
7. Service New Brunswick: fee schedule, non-profit companies
8. Service New Brunswick: fee schedule, copies and certificates
9. Service New Brunswick: incorporating a business corporation
10. Service New Brunswick: beneficial ownership register
11. Service New Brunswick: CRA business number
12. Service New Brunswick: Corporate Registry processing times
13. Service New Brunswick: Corporate Registry search
14. Service New Brunswick: online Business Registration System
15. Service New Brunswick: file an annual return online
16. BizPaL: New Brunswick Business Structures Wizard
17. Government of New Brunswick, Finance and Treasury Board: Corporate Income Tax
18. Government of New Brunswick, Finance and Treasury Board: Harmonized Sales Tax
19. CRA: business number and CRA program accounts
20. CRA: when to register for and start charging the GST/HST
21. WorkSafeNB: accounts and coverage
22. WorkSafeNB: understanding your rate
23. WorkSafeNB: maximum assessable earnings
24. WorkSafeNB: 2026 assessment rate and performance refund, 2 October 2025
25. Government of New Brunswick: Immigration
26. Government of New Brunswick: New Brunswick Provincial Nominee Program
27. Government of New Brunswick: New Brunswick Business Immigration stream
28. Government of New Brunswick: immigration important notices
29. Government of New Brunswick: Atlantic Immigration Program
30. FINTRAC: business relationship requirements
31. City of Fredericton: business permits and licences
32. City of Moncton: licences and permits
33. City of Saint John: permits, licenses and service requests