Certificate of Good Standing for an Ontario Company
A Certificate of Status is sometimes called a Certificate of Compliance or a Certificate of Good Standing and in Ontario a Certificate of Status is issued by the Ontario Ministry of Government Services. All companies can obtain a Certificate of Status in the jurisdiction in which they have been incorporated.
Certificates of Status are issued when you need to provide some institution or person with confirmation that your Ontario company is in good standing and is up-to-date in its filings.
If you obtain an Ontario Certificate of Status it will show the following: (a) the current name of the corporation; (b) the number assigned to the corporation by the government called the Ontario Corporation Number; and (b) whether or not the corporation is in good standing.
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Ontario companies must file federal tax returns each year and if those returns are not filed for many years the federal government will eventually dissolve the company. If a company has been dissolved it will not be able to receive a clear Certificate of Status.
Ontario companies must file Ontario annual returns each year and if those returns are not filed for a number of years the company will be dissolved. You will not receive a favourable Certificate of Status if a company has been dissolved for non-filing of Ontario annual returns.
When an Ontario Certificate of Status is issued for a corporation and the certificate shows that the company is not in good standing because of some filing it has not made, money is not refunded. It will be necessary for that corporation to update its filings before it can receive a Certificate of Status which indicates the corporation is in good standing. These certificates are costly because the government charges more to certify any kind of document. The corporation will then have to ensure all of its filings are up-to-date in order to obtain the Certificate of Status it needs. It is a good idea to know before the Ontario Certificate of Status is ordered whether the corporation has done all of its annual return filings. If the corporation has not filed all of its federal tax returns it can still obtain an Ontario Certificate of Status just as long as too many years have not gone by and the corporation has then been dissolved.
In my experience sometimes individuals are not clear on the document they need to obtain. An individual may wish to determine who the directors and officers are of a company. In this case an Ontario Corporate Profile is required rather than a Certificate of Status.
Certificates of Status are sometimes required by banks, law firms, individuals on the other side of a corporate deals whereby the company might be sold, when the corporation registers a car, when a company buys property, or numerous other reasons. Any person or institution that an Ontario company is dealing with may ask the directors and officers to provide them with a Certificate of Status to ensure the company is in good standing with the Ontario government.
Resources for Canadian Business Owners provides information about Ontario Certificates of Status and other legal products including Ontario Company Searches.