Annual Return

The Act requires that a corporation file each year an annual return. The applicable Annual Return (Form 24.3, Form 33 or Form 35.1) of the Corporation, will be sent by the Registry each year to the corporation approximately 30 days prior to its anniversary month. The anniversary month is the month the corporation was incorporated. This is not your income tax return. This is a corporate law requirement. It is completely separate from any filing obligations you may have with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

Why do I have to file an annual return? In addition to being a requirement under the Business Corporations Act (BCA) and Companies Act (CA), the information you provide on the annual return helps keep the Corporate Registry’s database up to date. This information is available to the public through our website. It lets investors, consumers, financial institutions and many others make informed decisions about your corporation.

The information on the annual return must reflect the corporation's situation on its anniversary date of each year of filing. For example, if your corporation was incorporated in July the information appearing on the return should reflect the corporation's situation in July of each year of filing.

The deadline for filing an annual return is within the 30 days following a corporation's anniversary date. If you do not file your annual return on time, the status of your corporation's annual filings in our online database will be displayed as "B – Not Current".

What if I don't file? Your corporation may be dissolved if it fails to file its annual returns. We have an obligation to make sure that corporate information is up to date. If your corporation is not filing its annual returns, we will assume that it is not operating and we will take steps to dissolve it (that is legally end its existence). Dissolution can have serious repercussions, including not having the legal capacity to conduct business.

We do recognize that some corporations, especially small businesses, may not always be aware of these filing requirements. So, it is our policy to only dissolve a corporation when it has not filed for two years. Also, if your corporation is in danger of being dissolved, we will send a final notice warning of the pending dissolution.

The reminder notice and default notice will be sent by email if you have subscribed to our Annual Return Reminder email service at www.snb.ca/CorporateRegistry . If you have not subscribed to this service, you will receive these notices by post at either the corporation's registered office address or at any additional address you may have provided.

Please note that whether you receive an annual return from this Registry, the corporation is obliged to file prior to the end of the month following its anniversary month. The failure to file annual returns on time will lead to the possibility of dissolution. pursuant to s. 139 of the Act