Register a company in Alberta, Canada's open door.

Federal incorporation requires a quarter of directors to be Canadian residents - Alberta requires none. Against the no-residency provinces, Alberta wins on the stack: the lowest provincial rate and the only major economy without a provincial sales tax. BC and Ontario make sense when your operations live there; for a foreign founder choosing freely, Alberta is usually the arithmetic answer.

Yes - the requirement was abolished outright: every director can live abroad, no local nominee needed, no workarounds. You still need an Alberta registered office and agent for service, which our packages include. It is the single change that made Alberta the incorporation counter for non-residents.

Yes - and this is the part most brochures skip: a corporation incorporated in Canada is a Canadian tax resident, taxed on worldwide income at the combined 23%. Canada is a credibility play, not a zero play. If pass-through is what your structure needs, the LP is the tool - and we say which fits before you spend.

A limited partnership with no entity-level tax: profits flow to partners, and non-resident partners with no Canadian-source business owe Canada nothing - the Canadian cousin of the UK LLP. The asterisks are the usual: your home country taxes the flow, substance and source rules are read strictly, and banks want real stories. Built on genuine cross-border trade, it is a quietly excellent vehicle.

Almost certainly not - it belongs to Canadian-controlled private corporations, and foreign ownership disqualifies by definition. Foreign-owned Alberta corporations plan on the general 23%. Anyone quoting you the small-business rate hasn't asked who owns the company.

Alberta charges no provincial sales tax - the only major province that doesn't - so the federal GST at 5% is the whole story, with registration required past C$30,000 of Canadian taxable sales. Selling only abroad, you may register voluntarily for input credits or stay outside entirely; we map it with your revenue.

The majors - RBC, TD, Scotiabank - prefer to meet you and often insist; fintech platforms onboard clean non-resident files remotely and serve most operating needs. We scope your lane before promising anything, because in Canada, as everywhere, the bank is the hard part.

The federal-provincial name search that clears your corporate name against existing marks before filing - hours of work, a small fee, and the reason Canadian names are collision-free. Numbered corporations skip it entirely when the name doesn't matter.

The registry's annual return through your agent, the CRA's T2 corporate return (or T5013 partnership information return for LPs), and GST filings where registered. From $900 a year all-in for the agent and return - Canadian compliance is real but boring, which is the compliment.

From $2,900 for the corporation or LP with NUANS, office and agent; from $4,900 with banking. The registry files in one to three days; CRA accounts take a week; the bank one to four weeks by lane. Renewal from $900/year.