Corporations subject to the Canadian Business Corporations Act (the “CBCA”) must file annual returns with Corporations Canada every year. Failure to file may result in the administrative dissolution of the corporation by Corporations Canada.
Administrative dissolutions were halted in March 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Corporations Canada has announced their intention to resume administrative dissolutions starting in spring 2022. These administrative dissolutions will affect corporations that have defaulted on filing their annual returns in the past two years.
What does this mean for corporations subject to the CBCA? All corporations are advised to ensure that their filings are up to date with Corporations Canada. Corporations Canada also notifies corporations when their annual reports become due. To ensure that your corporation is receiving these notices, check that any changes to your public corporate information, such as registered office address, any other address information, and email address used for these notices are reported to Corporations Canada, and this information is kept accurate and up to date.
Corporations Canada will send final notices to those corporations who have defaulted on their filing. These corporations will then have 120 days to file their annual reports, otherwise a Certificate of Dissolution will be issued. Corporations can file their annual reports through the following link.