How Much Does It Cost to Maintain a Corporation Each Year in Ontario?

What Ontario actually charges each year

For most Ontario corporations, the core annual maintenance obligation is the Corporations Information Act Annual Return, a filing (not a tax return) that reports basic corporate information such as directors and registered office address. It must be filed through the Ontario Business Registry (OBR) within six months of the corporation’s fiscal year-end, as required under the Corporations Information Act, RSO 1990, c C.39, s 3. Since May 5, 2021, the CRA no longer files this on the ministry’s behalf, so it has to go through the OBR directly.

Why the Annual Return costs nothing but still matters

The $0 fee doesn’t mean the filing is optional or low-stakes. It’s a standalone corporate-law requirement, separate from any tax obligation. A corporation with no Ontario taxable income in a given year is still required to file the Annual Return each year under the Corporations Information Act. Skipping it because “the business didn’t make money this year” is a common misunderstanding, but the filing tracks the corporation’s existence and basic details, not its profitability.

There’s a second, related obligation that has no fixed annual schedule: keeping the OBR profile itself current. Ontario requires corporations to report any changes to registered information, such as a new registered office or a change in directors, within 15 days of the change. This is distinct from the once-a-year Annual Return and applies whenever something actually changes.

The costs that aren’t the Annual Return

Two other cost items sit alongside the free Annual Return, and they’re the ones that catch people off guard because they don’t come up every year.

If the corporation operates under a registered business name (a name other than its full legal corporate name), that Business Name Registration expires every five years and must be renewed. The renewal costs the same as registering a new business name, and the amount varies depending on the type of business, so it isn’t a fixed annual line item but a periodic one worth tracking against its expiry date.

The other variable cost is entirely optional: using a lawyer, accountant, or licensed filing intermediary to handle OBR filings, including the Annual Return. The government’s own guidance notes that an intermediary or service provider may charge additional service fees on top of the $0 government fee. Whether that’s worth paying depends on how comfortable the corporation is managing its own filings and keeping its registry information accurate and current.

What this doesn’t cover

This breakdown is limited to the Ontario corporate-law filings described above, the Annual Return under the Corporations Information Act and Business Name renewals under the Business Names Act. It does not cover federal or corporate income tax filing obligations, which are a separate matter tied to income rather than a fixed registry fee.