Keeping a BC company from anywhere
Leaving BC or Canada? Keep a BC registered office, and your mail, without a lease
Your BC company can keep running while you live in Toronto, Lisbon or Singapore. What it cannot do is keep using a BC home address you no longer live at. Minuted becomes the company's registered & records office, receives and scans its letter mail, and files the annual report every year — from $249/yr, with no office to rent and nobody to check in on.
Switching is free. We prepare the change-of-office filing, you approve it, we file it.
What has to stay in BC
Every BC company must have a registered office and a records office, and both must be in British Columbia. The registered office is where the Registrar sends notices and where legal documents are served; the records office is where the minute book lives. Most owner-run companies use the owner's home for both. The moment you move, that address stops being a real place the company can be reached — and the Registrar's notices, the CRA's letters and anything served on the company go to whoever lives there now.
Directors can live anywhere. British Columbia has no residency requirement for the directors of a BC company. You can be the sole director from another province or another country; only the offices have to stay here.
Your mail, handled
Once the change of office is filed, the company's address is our Metro Vancouver address, and you can use it for the company's CRA, bank and supplier letter mail — that is what most of our clients do. Here is exactly how it works:
- Letters are scanned and emailed to you. Letter-mail scanning is included in both plans.
- Registered and signature-required letters are accepted.
- No packages or large parcels — the address is for corporate and records mail, not deliveries.
- We do not deposit cheques.
- Originals forwarded quarterly for $35 per shipment on your own courier label, to wherever you are. We can set a recurring reminder so it happens without you asking.
You update the address on file with the CRA, your bank and your suppliers yourself once our change of office is filed — the government fee for that filing is $21.50.
What doesn't change when you leave
- The annual report is still due within two months after each anniversary of incorporation, with a $43.39 government fee. Miss it repeatedly and the Registrar can dissolve the company, wherever its owner happens to live. We track and file it every year — see annual report filing.
- The transparency register is still required, and it still records the individuals who own or control 25% or more of the company, whether or not they live in Canada. The register includes each person's citizenship and whether they are a Canadian tax resident, so a foreign-resident owner is recorded, not exempted. It is kept at the records office and is not public under the Act currently in force. No social insurance number is collected.
- The minute book still has to exist. If yours is a certificate and a notice of articles in an old email, see Minute Book Rescue.
- Signatures don't need you in the room. Resolutions, consents and registers are signed electronically in your portal from wherever you are.
How the switch works
- Sign up onlineTwo minutes. Tell us the company name and where you'll be; we look up everything else on the registry.
- Approve the change of officeWe prepare the filing that moves the registered & records office to Minuted's address. You approve it; we file it. Government fee: $21.50.
- Update your own addressesOnce the filing is done we send you the address to give the CRA, your bank and your suppliers. Letters start arriving in your inbox as scans.
- We keep the company in good standingAnnual report filed each year, transparency register kept current, minute book in the portal. Your mail forwarded quarterly if you want the originals.
Pricing
Flat and annual. Both plans include the address, letter-mail scanning and the annual report.
Records Office
$249/yr
Your registered office and minute book, kept in order.
- Registered & records office address
- Mail and legal documents scanned and emailed to you
- Digital minute book, online anytime
- Opening minute book, or your existing book brought over free
- Annual resolutions, in place of an AGMDirectors elected, auditor waived, financial statements approved or waived
- Transparency register kept current
- Annual report filed for you, every deadline tracked
Choose Records Office
Records Office Plus
$399/yr
Everything in Records Office, plus the changes during the year.
- Everything in Records Office
- Up to 10 more resolutions a year — dividends, director and officer changes, share transfers
- Minute Book Rescue included — missed resolutions from past years caught up
- Registers updated to match
- 2 certified copies a year for your bank or lender
- A PO Box for your business mailing addressFor your website, invoices, contracts, Privacy Policy and email footers (CASL). Letter mail scanned and emailed to you.
- Federal companies: BC registration included
Choose Records Office Plus
| Government fees and extras | Fee |
|---|
| Change of registered & records office (one-time, when you switch) | $21.50 |
| BC annual report | $43.39 / yr |
| Quarterly forwarding of original mail, on your own courier label | $35 / shipment |
All prices in Canadian dollars, before GST and PST. Government fees are charged at cost. Switching from a law firm, Ownr or another provider is free, and your minute book is imported at no charge.
Common questions
Can I be the only director and live outside Canada?
For a BC company, yes. The Business Corporations Act has no residency requirement for directors. Keep the registered and records offices in BC, file the annual report, and the company is fine with you abroad.
Will the address be public?
The registered office address is on the public registry — that is true of any address you use, which is one reason not to use your home. We never print our street address on this website; it is given to clients when they sign up.
Can the CRA and my bank write to me there?
Yes — letter mail only. We scan and email it to you, hold the originals, and forward them quarterly for $35 per shipment on your courier label if you want them. We don't take parcels and we don't deposit cheques.
Does anything change for tax or banking?
Not from us — we handle the corporate records side. Tax residency and non-resident rules are questions for your accountant, and your bank may have its own requirements for owners living abroad. If they ask for proof the company is in good standing, we can obtain a certificate of good standing from the Registrar.
Go. We'll mind the address.
Two minutes online. We become the company's BC office, scan its mail, and file its annual report every year.
Sign up — 2 minutes