It is done by Articles of Amendment: $150 online through the Ontario Business Registry, effective immediately, plus an Ontario-biased NUANS report if you are moving to a chosen name. The filing takes minutes. The cleanup afterwards is the part people underestimate.
Our charges include applicable taxes. Disbursements are extra and billed at cost — itemized upfront, in writing, never hidden.
From $1,128.87 taxes included
A corporate name change is made by Articles of Amendment under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario). The Ministry fee is $150 online, and the amendment takes effect on filing; by mail it is the same fee and about 15 business days.
Directors resolve to change the name and the shareholders approve it, normally by special resolution. Those resolutions go into the minute book before the articles are filed, not afterwards. The corporation keeps its Ontario corporation number, its business number, its bank accounts and its contracts — it is the same legal person wearing a different name.
If you are moving to a chosen name, you need an original Ontario-biased NUANS report dated no more than 90 days before you file, and the name must end in Limited, Incorporated or Corporation, or one of the accepted abbreviations. NUANS is a similarity search, not an approval, and it says nothing about trademark risk.
There are three routes and people frequently pick the wrong one. Amending the articles changes the corporation's legal name everywhere — contracts, land titles, invoices, the works. Registering a business name under the Business Names Act ($60, five years) lets the corporation trade under a different name while its legal name stays exactly as it is. A number name is a legal name that needs no search at all.
If the goal is branding, a business name registration is usually cheaper, faster and reversible. If the goal is that every legal document reads the new name, amend the articles. If you want the name protected against competitors, neither of those does it — that is trademark law.
You can also go the other way. Amending from a chosen name to a number name is common before a sale, so a buyer's entity can take on the brand while the old corporation quietly becomes 1234567 Ontario Inc.
The registry filing is one line item on a long list. The rest: bank accounts and signing authorities, CRA program accounts, HST and payroll registrations, WSIB, licences and permits, insurance policies, the lease, supplier and customer contracts, land titles and any registered security, domain names and email, invoices, quotes, and signage.
Contracts signed in the old name remain fully binding — you have not created a new company, only renamed the existing one — but counterparties will ask. A short notice of name change with a copy of the certificate of amendment settles it in one email and avoids a payables clerk deciding your invoice is fraudulent.
Do the bank first. A payment sent to an account name that no longer matches the name on the invoice is the failure mode that actually costs money, and it will happen in the first month if the bank is left until last.
If you also want to change your share classes, remove restrictions on the business the corporation may carry on, or change the minimum and maximum number of directors, do it in the same Articles of Amendment. One filing, one fee, one set of resolutions.
If you are moving the corporation out of Ontario to the federal jurisdiction or another province, that is a continuance, not an amendment, and it is a different and longer process with consents required at both ends.
And if the objective is to distance the business from a bad history, a name change achieves nothing. The corporation is legally unchanged, its liabilities follow it, and former names appear on the corporate profile that any lender, buyer or plaintiff can pull in a minute.
The Ministry fee for Articles of Amendment for an Ontario business corporation is $150 filed online, and the change is effective immediately. Filing by mail costs the same and takes about 15 business days. If you are adopting a chosen name rather than a number name, add the cost of an Ontario-biased NUANS report from a private search house, which is a separate charge.
Yes, if the new name is a chosen name. You need an original Ontario-biased NUANS report dated no more than 90 days before the articles are submitted, and the name must end in Limited, Incorporated or Corporation, or an accepted abbreviation. If you are changing to a number name, no search is required — the registry assigns the number.
No. The corporation is the same legal person and contracts signed under the old name remain binding. In practice you send counterparties a short notice of the change with a copy of the certificate of amendment, and update the name at renewal. The items you should actively change straight away are the bank accounts, CRA program accounts, insurance policies, licences and permits, and anything registered against title to land.
Often, yes, and it is cheaper. A business name registration under the Business Names Act is $60 for five years and lets the corporation trade under a different name while keeping its legal name. Choose that if the change is about branding. Choose an amendment if you need the corporation's legal name — the one on contracts, title documents and the corporate profile — to actually change.
Our corporate work starts at $1,128.87, taxes included, published on our pricing page. Government fees are extra and billed at cost — currently $150 for Articles of Amendment, plus the NUANS report if you need one.
Open your file tonight — a licensed Ontario lawyer will confirm everything with you by tomorrow.