How Much Does It Cost to Incorporate a Business: Federal vs Provincial?

Federal vs Ontario vs Alberta: the fee comparison

The government filing fee to incorporate differs by jurisdiction, and the way that fee is charged differs too: some jurisdictions publish one flat number, others require a separate private-sector fee on top.

Federally, incorporating under the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA) costs $200 if filed online, with same-day processing in 1 business day. Filing paper Articles of Incorporation instead costs $250 and takes 10 days. An optional express service is available for online filings for an extra $100, bringing turnaround down to 4 business hours. These federal fees are set out in a regulation that Corporations Canada itself notes has not been updated since 2001.

In Ontario, the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery charges $300 to file Articles of Incorporation electronically through the Ontario Business Registry. Filing on paper instead costs $360, payable by cheque to the Minister of Finance. A related fee applies later if an incorporator needs to correct an error in already-filed documents: $500, payable to the Minister of Finance under section 275 of the Business Corporations Act.

In Alberta, the government’s portion of the incorporation fee is $275. Unlike Ontario or the federal process, Alberta incorporation cannot be filed directly with government: it must go through a private registry agent, who charges the $275 government fee plus their own separate service fee. That service fee is not regulated or capped, so it can differ from one agent to another, meaning there is no single “Alberta incorporation cost” the way there is for Ontario or the federal government.

The name search cost that applies almost everywhere

Beyond the government fee, most incorporators in all three jurisdictions face one more cost: a name search.

• Ontario: unless the corporation uses a numbered name, an original Ontario-biased NUANS report must be obtained from a private name search company and submitted with the Articles of Incorporation.
• Alberta: an Alberta NUANS report is required as part of the incorporation package unless the corporation uses a Corporate Registry-assigned numbered name (for example, “9999999 Alberta Ltd.”), in which case no NUANS report is needed.
• Federal: the corporate name search is now built into the federal online incorporation process itself, at the $200 fee already noted above.

Neither Ontario’s nor Alberta’s government fee pages state a fixed dollar price for the private NUANS report itself, since it is charged by a separate private search company rather than by government.

Deciding between federal and provincial incorporation

The fee comparison above is only one input. The facts that bear on the choice:

1. Where you plan to operate. A federal corporation that later registers extra-provincially in Ontario pays no separate Ontario provincial registration fee. Whether the same is true for extra-provincial registration in Alberta was not confirmed by the sources checked for this article.
2. How predictable you need the total cost to be. Ontario and the federal government each publish one flat government fee, so the incorporation cost (before NUANS and any professional help) is knowable in advance. Alberta’s total cost is less predictable because the registry agent’s service fee is not government-set.
3. How fast you need the corporation formed. The federal process offers a $100 express option that brings online processing down to 4 business hours. Ontario’s and Alberta’s fee structures, as sourced here, do not include an equivalent government-run rush tier.
4. Whether you can use a numbered name. Skipping a chosen word name in favour of a numbered name removes the NUANS report requirement (and its cost) in both Ontario and Alberta.

None of these facts by itself tells a founder which jurisdiction to pick. Business owners deciding between incorporating provincially in Ontario, provincially in Alberta, or federally under the CBCA should weigh where the business will actually operate against how much cost predictability and processing speed matter to them.

What is not covered here

This comparison draws on primary government sources for Ontario, Alberta, and the federal (CBCA) process. It does not cover incorporation rules in other provinces; a business incorporating outside Ontario or Alberta should check that province’s own corporate registry for its fee schedule.