Hi everyone,

So I've been offered a contract and as I am not incorporated I need to do so. Is a SIN sufficient or do I need to be a citizen? Thanks.

J

Hi,

bit of a vague post, please elaborate on what you need please...

are you a permanent resident? or a UK resident?

i take it you have been offered a job in Canada?

provide a few more details and the other posters will be able to assist you further.

Since the thread title is can a PR become incorporated what do you think?

Any person, resident or non-resident, can form a corporation in Canada. The real question is whether or not the individual can work in Canada as an employee of that corporation. I would assume as a PR you can.
Here is incorporation information for Alberta (all provinces will have similar information with slightly different requirements for incorporation.)http://www.servicealberta.gov.ab.ca/712.cfm

Is incorporation a condition of the contract? Without sounding patronizing, are you fully aware of the implications, costs and commitments of incorporating. The PR does not usually become incorporated, the PR forms a corporation, with shares and can own that company. You have to file annual accounts, and if you decide to close it down, you don't merely shut up shop, there are costs associated with that. You may want to investigate working as a sole proprietor.

Although you can incorporate by yourself, to make sure it is done properly, with the right class of shares allocated etc. you may want to look into hiring a lawyer and accountant. If I recall correctly ours cost us approx $5000 to do.

We have started up five incorporated companies (within Alberta) using this company . There are others like them but I have found these guys to be very professional, offer excellent advice, do all the NUANS searches, produce all the share certificates, minute book, bylaws, etc etc. In each instance we had the incorporation certificate emailed to us within (I think) about four days and the minute book, shares, etc arrived within about 7-10 days.

I think each incorporation has cost us around $600 and has saved me loads of time doing it myself or through a lawyer.

Good luck! J

YES butch but how do you know for sure hey?! lol!!

without sounding like one of those ' i got off the plane with the clothes i stood up in and a 6 iron... ' but 3 yrs back we flew out here with PR status, luckily i'd secured contract (by telephone interview) 2 wks before, anyway landed on the wed night/ so thursday for business, met with the agency, took me to the registry to get my corporation set up (numbered - ie no search) had to get Workers Compensation Board coverage too, for starting work on the following Monday - i certainly think it's the way to go, for tax write offs etc - the system is indeed cumbersome, but don't think costs are that much - someone mentioned $5000 ??? although we got a bit shafted the first year by getting a big office acountant, we now have a guy who does our corporate & personal taxes for about $1000

filing business taxes is fairly painful here i find ; prov corp tax, fed corp tax, gst , monthly payroll tax - back in blighty i was with an umbrella company - 1 phone call per month - 160hrs @ XX p/hr and a mileage form - bingo

I've personally been incorporated while I was a PR - in Alberta you just go to the registry and set up your corporation.

Thanks for all the responses, just wanted to check.

Cheers everyone.

Yep we paid $5k, but had to get the share structure and share classes right, I saved more than that in the first year. You don't need to be incorporated to get tax deductions, in fact, often you can do better on deductions as a sole proprietor. Our annual fees are in the $1100 mark, not including our own staff financial person.

Unless there is a liability issue or tax saving issue, I don't personally see why anyone would incorporate if they don't have to.

I guess that companies that employ many subcontractors insist that all their subs are incorporated as there is much less likelihood the CRA will subsequently deem them as employees.