Shelf Company – Frequently Asked Questions

• Business History – Establish a history for your company.
• Business Image – Business image improves as a company ages.
• Bank Loans – Banks look upon your company favorably if it has a history.
• Contracts – Bids on contracts often require a company be of a minimum age.
• Creditworthiness – Business credit and financing becomes easier with age.
• Faster Launch – Avoid start-up delays if you need to begin business quickly.
• Obtain Clients – Business age inspires more confidence when approaching clients.
• Building Credit – A shelf company can be merged with your existing business to facilitate building business credit.

Some of our shelf companies have a pre-established commercial credit file with Equifax. This will enable your lenders and suppliers to view an existing credit report on your company.

In time, through your good conduct and payment history, you will build credibility for your financing needs. Unfortunately, lenders and suppliers often focus on the length of time your company has been reported to the credit bureau and not necessarily how long your company has been in business.

Technically, you can be in business for 5 years and if nobody reports your payment history you will not have an existing credit bureau report. Lenders and suppliers will not look favourably upon your company.

With a shelf company, you will avoid those pitfalls, starting on the right foot directly from the beginning.

You can pay by Email money transfer, bank deposit, credit card or wire transfer. If you pay by credit card we insist the credit cardholder be the purchaser of the company. We will ask for proof of this.

Turnaround time is 5 business days or less, depending on how quickly the contracts are returned to our offices. All in all, it is exceptionally fast.

The good news is that a Federal corporation can amend the jurisdiction of its head office easily. There is a modest fee to file this Amendment, but it is well worth it if you want all the benefits of a shelf corporation.

Alternatively, we can set up a virtual office for you in Toronto or Montreal.

All shelf corporations are numbered companies and the numbers can either be amended to a name or you can add a trade name at the provincial level and keep the numbered name for the legal name. Fees will apply.