After You Incorporate in Ontario: The Registrations You Still Need to Do

Filing your articles of incorporation feels like the finish line — you have a certificate, a corporate number, and a legal entity. In reality, it's closer to the starting gate. Most of the registrations after incorporating Ontario businesses actually need happen in the weeks that follow, not at the moment of incorporation itself.

Skipping or delaying these steps doesn't undo your incorporation, but it can leave you offside with the Corporations Information Act, the CRA, or WSIB — sometimes without you realizing it until a bank, landlord, or auditor asks a question you can't answer. Here's the practical follow-up list.

1. Confirm Your CRA Business Number and Program Accounts

Incorporation and CRA registration are related but separate. Check whether a Business Number was issued as part of your incorporation, then register the specific program accounts your corporation actually needs:

• [ ] GST/HST account, if your revenue is at or approaching the small-supplier threshold — currently $30,000 in taxable revenue over four consecutive calendar quarters
• [ ] Payroll deductions account, before your first employee's first pay
• [ ] Corporate income tax account, to be ready for your first T2 filing

2. File Your Initial Corporations Information Act Return

Ontario corporations must file an initial return under the Corporations Information Act, confirming details like your directors, officers, and registered office address on the public record. This is separate from the incorporation filing itself. We don't have a confirmed day count for how quickly this must be done, so treat it as something to complete promptly after incorporating rather than something you can leave indefinitely.

3. Register for WSIB Coverage If You'll Have Employees

Most Ontario employers must register with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and pay premiums based on payroll and industry classification, under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997. The construction industry has its own mandatory-coverage rules that catch some independent operators who don't expect to need coverage — if that's your industry, don't assume you're exempt just because you're small.

4. Work Out Whether Employer Health Tax Applies to You

Ontario's Employer Health Tax (EHT) is a payroll tax, separate from source deductions and WSIB premiums. As of mid-2026, eligible private-sector employers get an exemption on the first $1,000,000 of annual Ontario payroll, with that exemption unavailable once payroll exceeds $5,000,000 (registered charities are an exception to that upper limit). Rates and thresholds like these change — verify the current numbers before you budget around them.

5. Register a Business Name, If You're Operating Under One

If your corporation will do business under any name other than its exact legal name on the articles — a trade name, a brand name, a "doing business as" name — that name needs its own registration under the Business Names Act. This is a distinct filing from incorporation: as of mid-2026, the fee is $60 for a five-year term, and that figure is worth confirming before you file since fee schedules change.

6. Check Whether You Need Extra-Provincial Registration

If you incorporated federally, or in a different province, and you're carrying on business in Ontario, you generally need to register extra-provincially here. The rules differ by corporation type: as of mid-2026, a Canadian extra-provincial corporation's initial return in Ontario is $0, while a corporation incorporated outside Canada faces a $330 extra-provincial licence fee. Don't assume a single flat fee applies — confirm which category you fall into.

7. Set Up Your Minute Book and a Filing Calendar

Your corporation needs to maintain corporate records — articles, by-laws, minutes and resolutions, and registers of directors, officers, and shareholders. An out-of-date minute book is one of the most common problems that surfaces later, often during financing or a sale. Alongside it, build a calendar for recurring obligations: your first annual shareholders' meeting is due within eighteen months of incorporation and no more than fifteen months after each subsequent one, and your annual return needs to be filed regularly as well.

Frequently asked questions