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View Full Version : Change the name of the corporation or register a new one?


pacificstart
Oct 17th, 2008, 01:30 AM
I have registered a corporation (federal) more than 5 years ago and I have never made an income through it although I spent thousands of dollars on various assests and expenses. And I never declared any expenses with CRA as I never had an income.

Right now I will need to start operating under a different name (because of specific branding that I created) and I will most likely have income as well.

Is it better to change the name of the corporation I already have or is it better to create a new one?

If I keep the old corporation and change the name I will probably look more credible on a background search as a business that's 5+ years old than a business that's 1 year old. If I start a new business there will probably be as many fees as if I was doing a name change.

Another thing that I haven't done is that I haven't paid the annual fees to Industry Canada so I will probably have to ad about $200 in fees to keep the existing corporation.

Do you see any other pros and cons to keeping the old corporation?

junkmail2002
Oct 17th, 2008, 07:43 AM
You could also register another business name under the existing corporation. For example I have a number corporation with several registered business names. I am free to use any one of them, and from legal/accounting point of view it is all one company.