Corporations Canada resumes dissolutions of corporations that are in default of filing their annual returns

In spring 2022, Corporations Canada will resume dissolutions of corporations that are in default of filing their annual returns (AR) for at least 2 years.

If your corporation is subject to the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA), you must file an AR with us every year. You must ensure that your AR filings are up to date. Investors, consumers, financial institutions and many others require up to date and accurate information to make informed decisions about federal corporations. They access this information from our online database of federal corporations.

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Consequence of not filing your AR

Your corporation may be dissolved if it fails to file its AR because we will assume that it is not operating. When your corporation is dissolved, you can no longer conduct business. For example, if your business is dissolved (in other words, legally closed) and you have requested a loan with the bank, it may be refused.

Important

To ensure you are notified on time that your AR is due, please make sure to report to us any changes to your public corporate information:

Context

In March 2020, Corporations Canada paused dissolutions of corporations that were in default of filing their ARs in order to ease regulatory requirements for corporations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Once we resume the program, we will be sending a final notice to warn corporations in default of filing their AR for at least two years of our intention to dissolve the corporation. They will have 120 days to file the required ARs. If the corporation does not respond by the deadline stated in the notice, we will issue a Certificate of Dissolution.

This final notice is sent by mail to all the valid addresses that we have on file (including the current directors' addresses). It will also be sent by email if the corporation is subscribed to the annual return reminder notices.

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