How Much Does It Cost to Incorporate in BC? (2026)

Ready to incorporate? Start your BC incorporation — from $699 all-in → · Government fee, name reservation, Articles, Central Securities Register and complete minute book included. No BC Services Card or registry account needed.

Incorporating in British Columbia costs $350 in government fees, paid to BC Registries when you file your Incorporation Application, plus $30 for a name request if you want a named (rather than numbered) company. That is the floor. What most founders actually spend depends on who prepares the paperwork: a fully do-it-yourself numbered company can come in at $350, a lawyer-prepared incorporation with a minute book commonly lands between $1,000 and $2,500, and CRS files the complete package from $699 all-in + GST. This guide breaks down every government fee, every deadline, and the costs that surprise first-time incorporators.

What are the government fees to incorporate in BC?

Every standard company incorporated under the BC Business Corporations Act (BCA) pays the same filing fee, whether it is a one-person consultancy or a venture-backed start-up:

Item	Government fee	Notes
Incorporation Application	$350.00	Filed online with BC Registries; includes the Notice of Articles
Name request	$30.00	Named companies only; reservation holds the name for 56 days
Priority name service	$100.00 (optional)	Cuts name examination to 1–2 business days
Unlimited Liability Company (ULC)	$1,000.00	Specialist structure, mostly for US cross-border tax planning
Annual Report	$43.39 per year	Due within 2 months of each incorporation anniversary
Business Number (BN) and corporate tax account	$0	Issued by the CRA at no charge

The $350 filing fee and $30 name request are set out on the province's own incorporated companies page. Filing happens online through BC Registries and Online Services — the province is partway through moving companies from the older Corporate Online system to the modernized BC Business Registry, where you sign in with a BC Services Card account. Either way the fees are the same, and this login step is one of the things founders outside BC (or outside Canada) most often get stuck on.

Two things stand out compared with other provinces. First, BC's name clearance is its own provincial name request system — cheaper than the $20–$60 a NUANS report costs in Ontario or Alberta, though it only protects the name inside BC. Second, BC has no director residency requirement: not 25%, not one director — none. That has made BC a default choice for US, UK and Asia-Pacific founders for decades.

What does a BC name request cost?

If you want a name — "Coast Mountain Consulting Ltd." rather than "1234567 B.C. Ltd." — you file a name request with BC Registries for $30. An examiner reviews your three name choices in priority order, and an approved name is reserved for you for 56 days while you file the Incorporation Application.

The catch is queue time: standard name examination commonly takes one to two weeks. If you need the company this week, the $100 priority service moves your request to the front of the queue, typically clearing in 1–2 business days.

Skip the name step entirely by incorporating a numbered company. The registry assigns the next available number ("1234567 B.C. Ltd."), there is nothing to examine, and the application can be filed immediately. You can adopt a name later by altering your Notice of Articles, or simply trade under a registered business name. One nuance: if your BC company plans to expand into other provinces, a NUANS report gives broader national name protection than a BC-only reservation — worth considering at day one rather than after you've built a brand.

DIY vs. registry agent vs. lawyer: what will you actually pay?

The government fee is the same for everyone. The difference is what you get around it — and whether the company is properly organized after the certificate arrives.

Route	Typical total cost	What you get	Where it goes wrong
DIY through BC Registries	$350 (numbered) to ~$380+ (named)	Certificate of Incorporation and Notice of Articles only	No Articles customisation, no share issuance, no Central Securities Register, no minute book — the company exists but its ownership is undocumented
CRS (registry agent)	From $699 all-in + GST	Government fee, name reservation, customised Articles, by-laws, organizational resolutions, share certificates, Central Securities Register, registers, BN application, digital minute book	Not a law firm — complex share structures and shareholder agreements go to a lawyer
Business lawyer	~$1,000–$2,500+ (estimate)	Everything above plus legal advice, custom share classes, shareholders' agreement	Cost, and turnaround measured in weeks rather than days

The DIY number is the one that catches people, and in BC the trap has a name: the Central Securities Register (CSR). Every BC company is required to maintain one at its records office — the definitive record of every share issued, transferred or cancelled. Filing the Incorporation Application yourself creates the company, but until the first directors adopt Articles-consistent resolutions, issue shares and record them in the CSR, the company has no documented shareholders. Banks ask for these records when you open the account; a buyer's lawyer will ask for the whole minute book in due diligence. Founders who skipped this step routinely pay $500–$1,500 later to have it reconstructed — more than the original saving.

Lawyer pricing varies widely by firm and complexity; treat the range above as a market estimate. Where a lawyer earns the premium is a multi-founder start-up with vesting, preferred shares or an investor on the cap table. For a one- or two-owner operating company with common shares, a registry agent covers the same ground for a fraction of the fee.

What ongoing costs does a BC company have?

Incorporation is a one-time cost. Staying compliant is annual:

BC Annual Report — within 2 months of your anniversary, $43.39. Filed with BC Registries every year to confirm your directors and addresses. It is not a tax filing, but skipping it is what eventually gets a company dissolved for non-compliance. CRS files it for $159 all-in + tax — see how to file your BC Annual Report.
Records office in BC. BC law requires a physical BC address where the company's records (including the CSR) can be inspected. If you don't have a BC address, a records-office service is a real annual line item — commonly a few hundred dollars a year from law firms and agents.
T2 corporate income tax return — annually. Filed with the CRA by your accountant; the Annual Report does not replace it.
Changes to the company. Altering your Notice of Articles — a name change, new share classes — carries its own registry fees, as do name requests for the new name.
Corporate records upkeep. Directors' and shareholders' resolutions for dividends, share transfers and the annual approval of financial statements belong in the minute book, and every share movement must hit the CSR. CRS drafts director resolution sets from $79 + GST, and a digital minute book keeps the records audit-ready.

None of these individually is expensive. What costs money is forgetting them: a company that is behind on Annual Reports can't produce clean proof of good standing when a lender or landlord asks for it, and reinstating a dissolved company costs far more than the filings it missed.

Is it cheaper to incorporate in BC or federally?

On the filing fee alone, federal wins: Corporations Canada charges $200 to incorporate online under the CBCA versus BC's $350. But the headline number is misleading for a business based in BC:

A federal corporation carrying on business in BC must also register extra-provincially in BC — another registration to set up and keep current.
The ongoing fees flip the comparison's direction depending on the year: BC's Annual Report is $43.39; the federal annual return is $12 but comes on top of the BC extra-provincial registration.
Federal corporations must have 25% Canadian-resident directors. BC has no residency requirement at all — for a fully non-resident founding team, BC (like Alberta and Ontario) is open where federal is not.
Federal incorporation gives you Canada-wide name protection — the real reason to choose it if you plan to operate in several provinces.

For most owner-operated BC businesses, incorporating provincially is simpler and the five-year cost is comparable. Choose on strategy, not the $150 gap — our federal vs. provincial incorporation guide walks through the decision, and CRS files either for the same all-in price.

How long does it take to incorporate in BC?

Cost and speed are related, because a slow filing costs you weeks of not being able to open the bank account:

Numbered company, filed online: effectively immediate — no name examination, and BC Registries typically issues the Certificate of Incorporation the same or next business day.
Named company, standard queue: the $30 name request commonly takes one to two weeks to examine, then filing is fast. The $100 priority service compresses name examination to 1–2 business days.
CRS-filed incorporation: name cleared, Incorporation Application filed, and the certificate plus complete minute book — Articles, by-laws, resolutions, share certificates, Central Securities Register — delivered as signable PDFs in 2–4 business days end to end. See the BC incorporation service page for exactly what's included.

Hidden costs first-time incorporators forget

The government fee is public. These are the line items that show up later:

Records office and registered office. Both must be BC addresses. Home-based founders can use their own address — at the price of putting it on the public record; everyone else budgets for an address service.
Doing-business-as name. If "1234567 B.C. Ltd." will trade as "Northshore Landscaping", that operating name must be registered separately with BC Registries.
PST, GST and payroll accounts. The CRA accounts are free but often overlooked until the first invoice or hire; BC PST registration is a separate provincial step for businesses selling taxable goods.
A shareholders' agreement. Not a registry filing, and not needed for a sole owner, but any two-or-more-founder company should budget lawyer time for one.
Minute-book maintenance. Annual resolutions, share transfers and CSR updates need to be papered every year — cheap to keep current, expensive to reconstruct at financing or sale time.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to incorporate in BC?

The BC government charges $350 to file an Incorporation Application, plus $30 for a name request if you want a named (rather than numbered) company. A do-it-yourself numbered company can therefore cost as little as $350; a lawyer-prepared incorporation commonly runs $1,000–$2,500; CRS files the whole thing from $699 all-in + GST including the government fee, name reservation and a full minute book.

Is it cheaper to incorporate in BC or federally?

Federal (CBCA) incorporation has a lower filing fee — $200 online versus BC's $350 — but a federal corporation operating in BC must also register extra-provincially in BC, and the ongoing costs differ: BC's Annual Report is $43.39 a year versus the federal $12. Federal incorporation also requires 25% Canadian-resident directors, while BC has no residency requirement at all — for many international founders that rule, not the fee, decides it.

What ongoing costs does a BC company have?

Every BC company files an Annual Report with BC Registries within 2 months of its incorporation anniversary — the government fee is $43.39. It must also maintain a records office in BC (a real cost if you use a service provider) and file a T2 corporate tax return with the CRA each year through an accountant. Budget separately for changes such as altering your Notice of Articles or company name.

Do I need a lawyer to incorporate in BC?

No. Anyone can file a BC Incorporation Application online, and a registry agent like CRS can prepare and file everything for you — including the Articles, Central Securities Register and minute book BC law requires. A lawyer is worth the extra cost when you have multiple share classes, outside investors, or need a shareholders' agreement drafted at the same time.

Ready to incorporate in BC? Start your BC incorporation → — name reservation filed, Incorporation Application submitted directly to BC Registries, Central Securities Register and full minute book included. Prefer to talk it through first? See the BC incorporation service page or contact us.

Turnaround: name cleared in 1–2 days with priority service; certificate and minute book in 2–4 business days. Price: from $699 all-in + GST (numbered) / $749 (named) — includes the $350 government fee, name reservation, by-laws, resolutions, share certificates, Central Securities Register and Business Number application.

Fees verified against the Province of BC's incorporated companies page ($350 incorporation, $30 name request, $100 priority service, $1,000 ULC, $43.39 Annual Report, 2-month deadline), August 2026. Lawyer and records-office figures are market estimates.