Effective Filing Date

Articles of Incorporation can be filed anytime from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday to Friday. This section allows you to select the effective filing date for the Articles of Incorporation. Today’s Date or Next Available Business Date is selected by default. Articles submitted electronically outside MGS, Companies and Personal Property Security Branch, ONBIS access hours, will receive an endorsement date effective the next business day when the system resumes.

Articles can be post dated up to 30 days in advance (including Holidays, Saturdays and Sundays). If you would like a Future Filing date please select the radio button beside “Future Filing Date” and include the date you would like your Articles of Incorporation dated.  Use the calendar provided.

Corporation Name

Please indicate whether the corporation is to be a named corporation or a numbered corporation.

Numbered Corporation

You do not require a Nuans Search Report for a numbered corporation.

For numbered corporations please select the desired legal ending of the corporation from the dropdown list.

Upon approval of the application, the Ministry of Government Services will assign a number to the corporation.

Note – When filing electronically, French words with accents like Incorporée, Limitée or Ltée cannot be accommodated at this time

Named Corporation

Enter the name of the corporation you wish to register in full including its legal ending.

You are required to obtain an Ontario biased NUANS search report for the proposed name. This is a 5 page computer report, searched against Industry Canada's database of over 5 million Canadian businesses, corporations and trade marks that have already been incorporated/registered and are similar to the proposed corporate name.  The NUANS name search report reserves the name for a period of 90 days. Only active NUANS reports can be used for incorporation purposes. 

Select the “ESC Corporate Services ECI” Button

NUANS preliminaries and search reports can be ordered through this site. Note: It is your responsibility to decide on the proposed names availability and to ensure the corporate name complies with the requirements of the Ontario Business Corporation Act and Regulations.

Picking Your Corporation Name

When picking your Corporation Name you should keep the following in mind:

The name must contain a legal element – ‘Limited’, ‘Limitee’, ‘Ltd.’, ‘Ltee’, ‘Incorporated’, ‘Incorporee’, ‘Inc.’, ‘Corporation’, ‘Corp.’

Note – When filing electronically, French words with accents like Incorporée, Limitée or Ltée cannot be accommodated at this time.

The name cannot contain multiple spaces.

The first 5 consecutive characters cannot be numbers.

The name for an Ontario business corporation must comply with the Business Corporations Act and Regulations.

A corporation shall not have a name,

(a) that contains a word or expression prohibited by the regulations;

(b) that is the same as or, except where a number name is proposed, similar to,

(i) the name of a known,

(A) body corporate,

(B) trust,

(C) association,

(D) partnership,

(E) sole proprietorship, or

(F) individual,

whether in existence or not, or i) the known name under which any body corporate, trust, association, partnership, sole proprietorship, or individual, carries on business or identifies himself, herself or itself, if the use of that name would be likely to deceive; or

(c) that does not meet the requirements prescribed by the regulations.

Exception to subs. (1) -- s. 9(2)

A corporate name shall not be primarily or only a combination of punctuation marks or other marks that are permitted and the first character of the corporate name cannot be a space or a punctuation mark. Permitted Punctuation marks are:  ! “ “   # $ % & ‘ ( ) * + , - . \ / : ; < = > ? @

The name of a corporation shall not exceed 120 characters in length, including punctuation marks and spaces; and

A corporate name shall not contain a word or expression, an element of which is the family name of an individual whether or not preceded by his or her given name or initials, unless the individual or his or her heir, executor, administrator, assigns or guardian consents in writing to the use of the name and the individual has, had or will have a material interest in the business.

This does not apply Subsection (1) does not apply where the corporation that will use the proposed name is the successor or affiliate of a person other than an individual that has as an element of its name, the family name, where,

(a) the person consents in writing to the use of the name;

(b) if the proposed name would contravene clause 9(1)(b) of the Act, the person undertakes in writing to dissolve forthwith or change its name to some other name that complies with clause 9(1)(b) of the Act before the corporation proposing to use the name commences to use it; and

(c) the proposed name does not contravene section 6.

The following legal elements must end with a period Ltd., Inc., Corp.

Only letters from the English alphabet or Arabic numerals or a combination, together with the necessary punctuation marks, may form part of the corporate name.

No word or expression in any language, that is obscene or connotes a business that is scandalous, obscene or immoral or that is otherwise objectionable on public grounds, shall be used in a corporate name.

No word, expression or abbreviation, the use of which is prohibited or restricted under an Act or Regulation of the Parliament of Canada or a province or territory of Canada, unless the restriction is satisfied, shall be used in a corporate name.

The following words and expressions shall not be used in a corporate name:

1.. "Amalgamated", "fusionné" or any other related word or expression in French, unless the corporation is an amalgamated corporation resulting from the amalgamation of two or more corporations.

2. "Architect", "architecte", "architectural", "d'architecture" or any variation thereof, where such word suggests the practice of the profession, except with the written consent of the Council of the Ontario Association of Architects.

3. "Association".

5. "College", "collège", "institute", "institut", "university" or "université" if the word would lead to the inference that the corporation is a university, college of applied arts and technology or other post-secondary educational institution.

6. "Condominium", "condominial" or any abbreviation or derivation thereof.

7. "Co-operative", "cooperative" or any abbreviation or derivation thereof.

8. "Council" or "conseil".

9. Digits or words that would lead to the inference that the name is a number name.

10. "Engineer", "ingénieur", "engineering", "génie", "ingénierie" or any variation thereof, where such word suggests the practice of the profession, except with the written consent of the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario.

11. "Housing", "habitation" or "logement", unless the corporation is sponsored by or connected with, the Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario or a municipal government in Ontario and evidence thereof accompanies articles or any application sent to the Director.

12. "Veteran", "ancien combattant" or any abbreviation or derivation thereof unless there has been continuous use of the name for a period of at least twenty years prior to the acquisition of the name.

13. Numerals indicating the year of incorporation unless section 4 applies or it is a year of amalgamation of the corporation.

14. .Any word or expression that would lead to the inference that the corporation is not a business corporation to which the Act applies.

No word or expression that suggests that a corporation,

(a) is connected with the Crown or the Government of Canada, a municipality, any province or territory of Canada or any department, Ministry, branch, bureau, service, board, agency, commission or activity of any such government or municipality;

(b) is sponsored or controlled by or is associated or affiliated with a university or an association of accountants, architects, engineers, lawyers, physicians, surgeons or any other professional association recognized by the laws of Canada or a province or territory of Canada; or

(c) carries on the business of a bank, loan company, insurance company, trust company, other financial intermediary or a stock exchange that is regulated by a law of Canada or a province or territory of Canada,

shall be used in a corporate name without the consent in writing of the appropriate authority, university or professional association, as the case may be.

No word or expression that suggests that a corporation is connected with a political party or leader of a political party, where the purpose for which the corporation is incorporated is of a political nature, shall be used in a corporate name.

No word or expression that misdescribes, in any language,

(a) the business, goods or services in association with which the corporate name is proposed to be used;

(b) the conditions under which goods or services will be produced or supplied or the persons to be employed in the production or supply of these goods or services; or

(c) the place of origin of the goods or services produced or supplied by the corporation,

shall be used in a corporate name.

Identical Names – The name of a corporation formed by the amalgamation of two or more corporations may be identical to the name of one of its amalgamating corporations, if the name is not a number name (S.10 of the Regulations).

A corporation may acquire a name identical to that of another corporation if it meets the requirements of Sections 6(1) and 6(2) of the Regulations.

Before the name can be duplicated under Section 6(2), Companies and Personal Property Security Branch policy requires that a legal opinion accompany the articles being filed.  The legal opinion must be by an individual lawyer (not a law clerk of the firm).  It must also clearly indicate that the corporations involved comply with Section 6(2) by referring to each clause specifically.

Requirement for a Name that is not Identical – Corporation names can only be duplicated in the case of an amalgamation, or where the corporations comply with S.6 (1) or S.6 (2) of the Regulations.  All other instances prohibit the use of a name for a corporation that is identical to the name or former name of another corporation, whether the name is active or not (S.6 (1) of the Regulations).

In order to acquire a name that is not identical, the name may be varied by the addition or deletion of words, numerals, or initials, or by substituting one of the other required legal elements or their corresponding abbreviations.

The addition or deletion of punctuation marks or other symbols is not sufficient to make the name different for the purposes of the act (S.7 of the Regulations).

Bilingual

Please indicate if your corporate name is bilingual by clicking on the box provided.

English/French Versions – The name of a corporation may be in an English form only, a French form only, an English and a French form combined, or an English form and a French form which are equivalent but used separately

When the name is to have an English form and a French form to be used separately, the “/” mark shall separate the two forms in the name

Versions in Languages Other Than English – A corporation may have in its articles, a special provision permitting it to set out its name in any language and the corporation may be legally designated by that name (S.10 (4)).

This would allow the corporation to legally use a foreign version of its corporate name for the purposes of conducting business; however, the foreign version would not be entered into the branch’s electronic database (ONBIS) and, therefore, would not appear on a Certificate of Status produced in respect of the corporation name.

Corporation Information

Type of Corporation    Please note that currently only Articles of Incorporation for Ontario Business Corporations can be filed electronically. Ontario Non-share Corporation, Credit Union, Social Club (with share and Non-share), Co-Operative (with share and Non-share) and Loan and Trust Corporations cannot be filed electronically. 

Language

Select English or French

Nuans Search Report Details-1

Corp Name

NUANS Search Corporation Name, this information will be pre-populated once you validate your Nuans report

NUANS Reservation #

You must enter the 8 digit reference number obtained from the NUANS report. This number appears on the first page of the NUANS report, above the double dashed line immediately to the right of the proposed name. Once the Nuans reservation number is entered Select the “Validate Nuans” Button

Date of Report

The Date of the NUANS Report will be pre-populated once you have validated your Nuans. The NUANS name search report reserves the name for a period of 90 days. Only active NUANS reports can be used for incorporation purposes

Nuans Search Report Details-2

In certain circumstances you will have an English and a French Nuans Report for the same corporation. If this is the case you must validate both Nuans reports.

Corp Name French

NUANS Search Corporation French Name, this information will be pre-populated once you validate your Nuans report.

NUANS French Reservation #

You must enter the 8 digit reference number obtained from the French NUANS report, if applicable. This number appears on the first page of the NUANS report, above the double dashed line immediately to the right of the proposed name. .Once the Nuans reservation number is entered Select the “Validate Nuans” Button

Date of Report  French

The Date the French NUANS Report was performed will be pre-populated once you have validated your Nuans. The NUANS name search report reserves the name for a period of 90 days. Only active NUANS reports can be used for incorporation purposes