Three local-only tools · 14 jurisdictions
Test your incorporation decision against the registries
Pick a jurisdiction, add up the government fees, and read the director-residency rule that decides whether a founder abroad can sit alone on the board. Every figure shows the official page it came from and the date that page was read.
Every calculation happens in this tab’s memory. Nothing you select is sent to 2727, stored on a server or shared with a third party, and no tool asks for a name, address, company number or any other personal detail.
Where the numbers come from
These tools read one data file compiled only from the research published in this cluster. Each figure carries the official page it was taken from and the date it was read. A figure the research could not verify is shown as not published, never estimated. Jurisdiction data verified September 6, 2026.
Jurisdiction picker
Rank the federal route against each province you plan to operate in, using the residency rule, filing route and published fees the research verified for each one. The ranking is a reading of that data, not a recommendation.
Ranked candidates
Select at least one province or territory to rank the routes.
Rule texts, registry names and caveats below are reproduced from the official source cited beside them, in that source’s own language of publication. They are not paraphrased or translated here.
Educational planning material, not legal, tax, accounting, immigration or banking advice. Registries, the CRA and every bank decide each file on their own terms, and published fees and rates change. Jurisdiction data verified September 6, 2026.
Government fee estimator
Add up the published government fees for a first year and for three years: the incorporation filing, the recurring annual return, and one extra-provincial registration per operating jurisdiction. Every row shows the page the fee was read from.
| Fee | First year | Three years | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Incorporation filing | $200 | $200 | Source · read September 6, 2026 $200 online with a one-business-day service standard; $100 more for four-hour express service. No separate Nuans report is ordered for an online word-name incorporation — the name search is part of the application. |
| Annual return (Annual return) | $12 | $36 | Source · read September 6, 2026 $12 online, due within 60 days following the incorporation, amalgamation or continuation anniversary date. Corporations Canada warns it is not the tax return; CBCA s. 212 permits dissolution after one year of default. |
Extra-provincial rows are the fees each jurisdiction publishes for a federal corporation, which is the home jurisdiction you selected.
Government fees only. This estimate excludes name-search reports (NUANS and equivalents), registered-agent and attorney-for-service fees, incorporation-service and law-firm fees, courier and certificate fees, and every tax. Where a jurisdiction requires an authorized service provider to make the filing, the research found those provider fees to be unregulated and unpublished, so no amount for them appears here.
Rule texts, registry names and caveats below are reproduced from the official source cited beside them, in that source’s own language of publication. They are not paraphrased or translated here.
Educational planning material, not legal, tax, accounting, immigration or banking advice. Registries, the CRA and every bank decide each file on their own terms, and published fees and rates change. Jurisdiction data verified September 6, 2026.
Director-residency checker
Read the residency provision, the local-footprint substitute and the transparency-register regime for one jurisdiction, with the statute section and the page each was read from.
At least twenty-five per cent of the directors must be resident Canadians; if the corporation has fewer than four directors, at least one director must be a resident Canadian.
The registered office must be in the province in Canada specified in the articles, and a change of registered-office address is filed within fifteen days.
CBCA corporations keep an internal register of individuals with significant control and, since 22 January 2024, also file ISC information with Corporations Canada, part of which is published.
- Registry
- Corporations CanadaSource · read September 6, 2026Corporations Canada administers the Canada Business Corporations Act and receives the incorporation filing.
- Online filing
- Accepted onlineSource · read September 6, 2026The founder files online directly with Corporations Canada: $200 with a one-business-day standard, or four hours with express service.
- Sales-tax regime
- Not publishedNot publishedNo source fetched for this entry's corpus states a GST rate; the pages cover GST/HST registration only. A customer's combined rate follows the province of supply, not the incorporating jurisdiction.
- Small-business corporate income-tax rate
- 9%Source · read September 6, 2026Federal net rate for a CCPC claiming the small business deduction, quoted by the CRA (net general rate 15%). This is the federal rate, not a provincial one; a corporation controlled by non-residents is not a CCPC.
- Business limit the lower rate applies to
- $500,000Source · read September 6, 2026The federal small-business rate applies to a $500,000 business limit of active business income, so losing CCPC status costs six federal points on the first half-million.
Rates are shown because they follow from the jurisdiction, not because they are fees. Sales tax is charged on the place of supply, and the corporate rate applies only where the corporation has a permanent establishment.
You cannot form the board alone from abroad: this jurisdiction requires a resident-Canadian director, so you need a qualifying co-director or a different jurisdiction.
Rule texts, registry names and caveats below are reproduced from the official source cited beside them, in that source’s own language of publication. They are not paraphrased or translated here.
Educational planning material, not legal, tax, accounting, immigration or banking advice. Registries, the CRA and every bank decide each file on their own terms, and published fees and rates change. Jurisdiction data verified September 6, 2026.
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