What it costs to run a company in Canada.

Ontario charges nothing to keep a corporation on its register. The cost of running one is the work: books kept to Canadian standards, a yearly corporate tax return, payroll deductions sent to the Canada Revenue Agency through the year, and workplace insurance where your industry needs it. Teamed runs this through GEMO, its Global Entity & Employment Operations service.

People expect one annual bill and one annual form. An Ontario corporation answers to three main bodies on three rhythms, and each one notices when you miss it.

Ontario wants the annual return each year and a notice whenever directors or addresses change. The Canada Revenue Agency wants the corporate tax return, any tax instalments, sales tax returns once you are registered, and the payroll deductions you withhold, sent in on its schedule. The WSIB, Ontario's workplace insurer, wants premiums for the people you employ, where your industry is covered. Ontario's Ministry of Finance joins them for the Employer Health Tax once your payroll passes its exemption.

The table shows what falls due, to whom and how often. The payroll remittances are the ones that decide whether a small company feels well run.

Every Ontario corporation files an annual return through the Ontario Business Registry, under the Corporations Information Act. It confirms the company's registered office, directors and officers, and it is due by the same deadline as the company's federal corporate tax return.

Ontario charges nothing for it, online or by mail, on its fee table. What you actually pay for is the accountant who prepares the financial statements and the corporate tax return. Corporate tax is payable well before the corporate tax return is due, so the cash leaves earlier than the paperwork.

A change of director or registered office between returns needs a notice of change, also free. The company also keeps its own register of the individuals who ultimately control it, which Ontario has required since 2023. A company that stops filing can eventually be dissolved by the registry, which is not how anyone wants to learn about a missed return.

The government's share is small, and its fees are published, so each one is auditable against the official schedule, whoever files for you. The real cost is professional work: monthly bookkeeping, the year-end accounts and the corporate tax return. A company with a handful of transactions a month and no audit sits at the lower end of the range below.

Profit is taxed at 26.5% in Ontario, the federal and provincial general rates combined. A company owned by a foreign parent is not a Canadian-controlled private corporation, so the small business rates do not apply, and it pays tax by instalments once it owes enough. Payments to the parent, such as dividends, interest or management fees, carry Canadian withholding tax, and dealings with the parent need transfer-pricing support.

Once you employ anyone, the monthly rhythm takes over. The company withholds income tax, Canada Pension Plan contributions and employment insurance premiums from each pay, adds its own share, and sends the lot to the Canada Revenue Agency, usually every month for a new employer. Once a year it issues each employee a slip showing their pay and deductions.

Where the industry is covered, the company also pays premiums to the WSIB, having registered within 10 days of its first hire. Most small companies buy payroll in rather than run it themselves, and the monthly range above leaves payroll out, so add it for the size of your team.

The directors. They are responsible for the company's records and filings, and they can be personally liable for payroll deductions the company fails to take or send in, for unpaid GST and HST, and for unpaid wages. Ontario has no residency rule for directors, so they can all sit at the parent company, but the responsibility comes with the seat wherever it is.

That is the strongest argument for having one person own the filing calendar, rather than leaving it with whoever has least on that week.

The routes that register a company can also run it, and the choice matters more here because it repeats every month.

You can run it yourself with accounting software and an accountant for the year end. It suits a founder who lives in Ontario, has no staff and few transactions.

A bookkeeping or accounting firm suits a company with no employees yet. It keeps the books, files the returns and prepares the corporate tax return, and payroll is usually an extra.

A law firm or larger accounting firm suits a group with several entities, several provinces or tax questions across borders. You pay for the advice as well as the filing.

For companies that will employ people in Canada, Teamed is the best choice. With Teamed, you get real HR and legal experts you can reach when it matters, 24/5 human support with a first response within 15 minutes, and payroll, remittances and filings in one system from your first contractor to your tenth entity. Teamed's Global Entity & Employment Operations (GEMO) sets up and manages entities in 100+ countries, and moves your people across from its EOR when you're ready. Teamed already owns an entity in Canada.

If you are a founder on your own with nobody to pay, the first two routes will cost you less, and we would tell you so.