Guidelines – Incorporating in Quebec

• The company name must be French or can be French and have an English name also that is a direct translation of the French name.
• The legal ending for the company name must be ‘compagnie’, ‘corporation’, ‘Inc’ or ‘ltee’.
• When selecting your company name, please bear in mind that the more distinctive the name, the more likely it is to be accepted.
• If your chosen name contains common or popular words, or is the same or confusingly similar to another company in the province, then it may be rejected.
• If you choose to incorporate a numbered company, then the number will be automatically selected for you by the government.
• The process of incorporation for numbered companies is quicker than that for named companies since there is no name search required.
• When your Quebec numbered company is incorporated, a trade name can also be registered and you can carry out your business under that trade name. However, for all legal and government paperwork, the numbered company will be recognized by the number rather than the trade name.

Guidelines – Incorporating in Quebec

• The company must designate a residential or commercial address as the Head Office.
• This address cannot be a PO Box number.
• If your company does not have such an address, then you must obtain a business address in Quebec or appoint a Registered Agent living in the province of Quebec.

Guidelines – Incorporating in Quebec

• There must be at least 1 director selected and he/she must be over 18 years of age.
• Directors can only be individuals.
• You must provide the details of each Director’s address,
• Please note that it is not mandatory that Directors of a company incorporated in Quebec be Canadian residents.
• Directors can also be shareholders and officers of the same company.
• The Officers consist of a company’s senior management. For example; President, Treasurer and Secretary.
• Each company must appoint a President and a Secretary.
• One person can be the President, Secretary, shareholder and Director of the company.
• Officers need not be Canadian residents.

Guidelines – Incorporating in Quebec

• Shareholders control the company since they own shares in the company.
• You must choose to appoint between 1 and 50 shareholders.
• Their full names and residential address details must be entered in the application form.

Guidelines – Incorporating in Quebec

• Select the number of employees your company will have from the range given.
• Define your business activities

Guidelines – Incorporating in Quebec

Determine your Company’s Capital Stock Structure, Restrictions on Stock Transfer & Limitations on Business Activities

• All new businesses must determine the following at the point of incorporation:
  1. Share structure
  2. Restrictions on Stock Transfer
  3. Limitations on Business Activities
• This information must be presented in separate Schedules that are included with the incorporation documents sent to the government.
• We allow you to upload your own schedules in plain text or .PDF formats.
• Each Schedule must be identified and labeled with a heading at the top of each Schedule document. For example,, “Share Structure”, “Restrictions on Share Transfers” etc.
• Alternatively, you can use standard schedules, which are available here.