It is official now I am a founder, shareholder, director and an officer of RomanZ Media Group Inc. I filed all the papers myself online and it was very very easy. The system even had a typical texts suggestions in area like types of shares and restrictions. I pretty much used that typical text everywhere. Furthermore, after I was done with federal incorporation system automatically transferred my data to government of Ontario and auto filled most of the fields. Overall with my preparation on Wednesday it took me only 20 minutes to actually go through the process. Pretty amazing – especially for the one of the websites of Government of Canada.

I woke up to a letter of approval of my name and Certificate of Incorporation – happy birthday!!! Now I am just waiting from the paperwork from Government of Ontario and Canada Revenue Agency. I am going to open a business bank account – and I am in business.

While incorporating seem like a minor thing – it somehow filled me with the feeling of excitement and pride. I remember almost 6 years ago I was taking BUS 101 Introduction to Business that explained the difference between different types of businesses. Now I am actually living the theory from my degree.

On a more serious note working from home is not going as smooth as I expected. I am defenitly going through an ajustment. Gloomy Toronto days and not having anyone to talk to – can take its toll.Never thought I will miss the office chit chat. I even powered my MSN something I didn’t do for ages.  I am still having trouble to stick to a scheduale, so literarry I am working 12 hours per day. I force myself to take walks at least every two hours.

Everyday has its challenge, but it is so much fun to overcome them.

P.S. Write now I am writting an official business plan in order to try to benefit from numerous business assistance programs Government of Canada and Ontario Has.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and these series are just summarizing what I with my limited knowledge understood about creating and operating a media corporation in Ontario Canada. If you are interested in incorporating I suggest you to seek  professional help.

I mentioned on Monday that one of the first steps for me is incorporating. My reasons for creating a corporation are dead simple: limited liability, lower tax rate (very important in Canada and Ontario) and ability to raise capital. In Canada you can incorporate either under provincial ($338-$360) or federal law ($200-$250).Here is a nice table on federal vs provincial corporations.

I decided to incorporate under Federal law in order to be able to operate all over Canada and most importantly to eliminate a possibility of someone using my company’s name in another province. The downside of incorporating Federally is more stringent process for the name approval and you still have to register a corporation in every province it is engaged in business and to receive the permit and licenses.

Corporation needs a unique name or can be assigned a number. I obviously want to have a corporation with a name, so my process is a bit more complicated. The name needs to be unique, in English or French, representative of the business and not be very similar to competitors. You need to check the availability of the name and submit with incorporation papers by using NUANS® name search system ($20 per search) you can also use a third party for a fee that would make sure that your name has a chance to be approved. Furthermore, since people in Quebec like to do things differently than all Canada they are using different naming system called CIDREQ. While submitting CIDREQ report is not mandatory for incorporating it is your responsibility to check if your name is available in that province. Especially if you would like to do any business in Montreal.


My registered office for the corporatin will be my house in Vaughan, Ontario for now. So what else will I need to legally operate a media corporation in Ontario (assuming I am not building my own office):

1) Since advertising space is a taxable good I would need to obtain a Vendor Permit (RST) which will enable me to collect sales tax.  The application for a vendor permit is free.
2) Master Business License (MBL) – which is basically just a registration of the business in Ontario. As everything else registration of the business can be performed online and costs around $60.
3) Business Number (BN) – is a number from Canada Revenue Agency. You will receive the number when you will go through the federal incorporation.


It took me awhile to understand the process and what licenses do I need. The next post in these series will about me actually writting Articles of Incorporation and going ahead with the process. Obviously, my first step is finding the name. Which is not easy!

I will keep you posted on the name I chose. Questions? Comments? Did I get something wrong? Let me know!