Saskatchewan Incorporation

Incorporation lets you register a business as its own legal entity, separate from its owners. By incorporating, business owners can avoid personal liability, easily transfer ownership to new shareholders, and raise capital more readily.

In Canada, you can incorporate on either the federal or provincial/territorial level. Incorporating in Saskatchewan lets your business be registered under the laws and regulations of the Government of Saskatchewan. The company will be added to the Saskatchewan Corporate Registry, allowing you to operate within the province.

When you incorporate your business with LawDepot, you get access to exclusive perks and partner offers. We’ve teamed up with Vault, a banking platform for Canadian businesses, and Square to offer you these great deals:

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Incorporate with LawDepot and you’ll get $100 back when you open a business bank account with Venn. Since our incorporation fee is only $99, it’s like you’re getting it for free. Keep in mind that you still have to pay the federal government fee. 

LawDepot's Incorporation makes incorporating easy and manageable. Simply fill out the questionnaire and provide us with the necessary information. We'll do all the hard work of filing and registering.

Follow these six steps to incorporate in Saskatchewan:

Step 1: Name your corporation

Come up with a name that will identify your corporation. A corporation name must be:

• Distinctive. Use a unique element to differentiate your corporation from other companies in the same industry.
• Descriptive. Include something that identifies what the corporation is or does.
• Legal. Add a legal suffix at the end, such as Ltd., Inc., or Corp.

To create a name for your business, you can use acronyms or made-up words, or you can take two existing words and combine them. Choose a name that'll give you marketing advantages by helping customers remember or identify you. Make sure that the name follows the naming guidelines provided by the Saskatchewan Corporate Registry.

When you choose your name, you should also describe the nature of your corporation's business and the locations where you'll be operating.

You can also choose to incorporate as a numbered corporation. Numbered corporations are assigned a number instead of a name, meaning no name approval process is necessary. Instead, the Saskatchewan Corporate Registry will give you a number, and your corporation name will include these three elements:

• An assigned number
• The word "Saskatchewan"
• Your suffix of choice, such as Ltd., Inc., Corp.

Once your corporation is established, you can register a trade name, also known as a "doing-business-as" name. Alternatively, your corporation can change its name to a suitable available name at a later date. This is done by filing a shareholder's name change resolution with the Saskatchewan Corporate Registry.

Step 2: Provide a registered office address

You'll need to provide your corporation's registered office address and mailing address. The registered office address is the main location of your corporation where any government notices and documents will be served. It needs to be located in Saskatchewan, it has to be available to the public, and it can't be a PO box.

Corporate registered office addresses are publicly available through the corporate registry, so keep that in mind before entering a home address. Some small business owners will nominate the address of their lawyer or accountant.

The corporation's mailing address is where mail and other documents are sent. It can be the same or different from the registered office address. Unlike the registered address, it can be a PO box.

Step 3: Select a contact person and directors

Name a person that LawDepot staff, registry agents, or government agents can contact if something is missing or unclear in your incorporation files.

If the contact person isn't also the incorporator, name the incorporator. The incorporator is the person responsible for organizing the new corporation. We ask that you include names, addresses, and contact information for both the contact person and the incorporator.

Next, choose the initial directors of your corporation. These directors will be in charge of the corporation until the first meeting of the company shareholders. At that meeting, the first order of business should be to confirm the appointment of the initial directors or elect someone else.

You need at least one director to conduct the corporation's affairs. The director, contact person, incorporator, and shareholder can be the same person.

Step 4: Create your Minute Book

A Minute Book is a collection of your corporation's legal records. It includes all the forms filed during incorporation and other organizational documents.

Adding a Minute Book to your LawDepot Incorporation will help you organize, store, and protect all your corporate forms and documents relating to your incorporation. Your Minute Book can be physical or digital.

Officers

To prepare the Minute Book, you must name your officers. Officers manage the day-to-day affairs of the corporation. They're appointed by and report directly to the directors. Ideally, there should be three officers:

• A president
• A secretary
• A treasurer

A single officer can have multiple titles. The contact person, incorporators, and directors can all be officers.

Shares

Decide on your share structure. Shares represent units of ownership of the corporation. The shares you issue can either be of the same or different class. The share classes are:

• Class A voting common shares let shareholders receive dividends and vote in company matters. These shares are typically held by the controllers of the corporation who make the business decisions.
• Class B non-voting common shares let shareholders receive dividends but no voting rights. Corporations typically issue non-voting shares when they want to allow investment in the company without diluting the voting strength of the class A shareholders.

Your company isn't required to have class B shares. However, you must issue at least one class A share when you incorporate. Both classes of shareholders can receive dividends and corporate assets upon dissolution.

When you've decided what type of shares to issue, you need to set a share price — many corporations set an initial share price of either $0.01 or $1.00 per share.

Shareholders

At the time of filing, you need at least one shareholder. Your shareholders can be individuals or other corporations. Name your shareholders, and include their address, share class, and number of shares.

Step 5: Create your provincial sales account

To operate in Saskatchewan, you'll need a provincial sales tax number. This will let you collect and remit sales tax on your company's goods and services.

LawDepot will need the following information to register your business for a provincial sales account:

• Your commencement date, which is the day you started your business
• Your business type
• An estimate of your monthly sales
• An estimate of monthly sales for liquor or tobacco products, if any
• The number of employees you expect to hire

If your corporation is a seasonal business and will only be operating for certain periods of the year, specify which months it'll be active.

Step 6: Register for any other corporate accounts you might need

Incorporating in Saskatchewan will automatically register you for a federal business number. However, depending on your company, you might also need to register for the following:

• A GST/HST account if your corporation earns over $30,000 annually
• A payroll account if you have or are planning to hire employees
• An import/export license if you are importing or exporting goods
• Worker’s Compensation Board (WCB) coverage if you plan to hire employees
• Any licenses or permits your corporation needs

Every LawDepot Incorporation includes the provincial incorporation and registration of your business. For named corporations, LawDepot can do a corporate name search on your behalf. You can also add a Minute Book, a Corporate Seal, and Share Certificates.

After you submit your responses, LawDepot will file your incorporation as soon as possible. We’ll review your documents for grammar, spelling, and completeness.  If information is missing or we require clarification, we’ll contact you directly. This could potentially result in a delay in the filing process.

Once the incorporation documents have been filed, we’ll register your business. The registration timeline depends on the type of corporation you’re creating:

• The registration of a numbered corporation should take 1-3 business days.
• The registration of a named corporation should take 4-7 business days.

Because of Saskatchewan’s provincial name reservation process, your name must be approved by the corporate registry before your application can be continued. Provincial name approval can take 2-3 days. After the name approval is received, we will move forward with your filing and registration.

Can I make changes to my incorporation once I have ordered?

Once LawDepot reviews your order, we submit it for filing within one business day. This means orders are final. Contact technical support immediately if you need to change anything in your order. We’ll do what we can to stop the filing, but it might not be possible.

How much does incorporating in Saskatchewan cost?

LawDepot’s Saskatchewan Incorporation starts at $99 + provincial government fees of $235. Some of the additional services or products are optional, and you can add them as needed, while others are legally required to incorporate in Saskatchewan.

Here’s a full cost breakdown of the required fees, including those legally mandated by the government of Saskatchewan:

You can choose to add any of these optional services and products to your order:

Finally, when purchasing your Incorporation, you can select a service level:

Provincial incorporation lets you register in one province. Incorporating in a province is the less costly option, and your chosen name will likely be easier to secure. It’s the usual option for start-ups. 

However, if you want to expand your business into a neighbouring province, you’ll have to register as an extra-provincial corporation in the new jurisdiction. You might not be able to trade under your established name if a competitor is already using a similar name. 

Federal incorporation allows you to operate country-wide without registering as an extra-provincial corporation when you expand outside your home province. It costs more and requires more paperwork than provincial incorporation. However, it lets you use the same name in all provinces and territories. 

As a federal corporation, you won’t need to change your name to enter a different province, even if a business in the area already has the same name. This makes marketing campaigns easier and cheaper, streamlining bureaucracy when you expand your business.

The rule of thumb is to incorporate provincially if you only plan to operate in one province or territory. If you want to expand into other provinces or territories in the future, you should incorporate federally.