Almost every province and territory in Canada, including the federal jurisdiction, will require a company that is incorporated in that jurisdiction to file an annual return. This is not the same as the company’s tax return. An annual return is required by the Companies Branches of the provincial and territorial jurisdictions in Canada. An annual return will request information about the registered office address, the mailing address, the business address, the directors, the officers and occasionally the shareholders of a company. The provincial or territorial governments require companies registered under them to update their information on a yearly basis and most impose a small fee for the filing.

 

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What is the Consequence of Not Filing An Ontario Annual Return for Your Canadian Company

If your company does not file its Ontario annual return within 2 to 3 years your company will be dissolved for non-filing. Then you have to revive your company and this can be expensive. You will be expected to pay in some cases as much as if you were incorporating the company and as well will be expected to pay for all or at least two years of the outstanding fees for the Ontario annual return filings outstanding. This will involve the preparing of a number of documents and you may need to obtain a solicitor to assist you. Each Canadian jurisdiction has a different policy but generally it is a great deal of trouble and extra expense to have to revive your company. Therefore, it is important that you ensure you understand what the legislative requirements are for your company. Under the individual sections listed above, you will be able to determine the requirements for your company with respect to Ontario annual return filings and how you can meet them.

Public Information On Ontario Annual Returns

The information on an annual return is filed in the public database. This means that anyone can order a copy of the record of your company in order to ascertain your registered office address or who the directors are. Some provinces honour the privacy legislation and allow you to include an address for service for a director or officer of the company which can be your office address and other provinces and territories are still insisting on home addresses to be included on the form.