A Certificate of Status is sometimes called a Certificate of Compliance or a Certificate of Good Standing and in Ontario a Certificate of Status is issued by the Ontario Ministry of Government Services. All companies can obtain a Certificate of Status in the jurisdiction in which they have been incorporated.
Certificates of Status are issued when you need to provide some institution or person with confirmation that your Ontario company is in good standing and is up-to-date in its filings.
An Ontario Certificate of Status shows whether the company is in good standing or not, the exact and proper name of the company and the corporation number.
Ontario companies must file federal tax returns each year and if those returns are not filed for many years the federal government will eventually dissolve the company. If a company has been dissolved it will not be able to receive a clear Certificate of Status.
Ontario companies must file Ontario annual returns each year and if those returns are not filed for a number of years the company will be dissolved. You will not receive a favourable Certificate of Status if a company has been dissolved for non-filing of Ontario annual returns.
When an Ontario Certificate of Status is issued for a corporation and the certificate shows that the company is not in good standing because of some filing it has not made, money is not refunded. It will be necessary for that corporation to update its filings before it can receive a Certificate of Status which indicates the corporation is in good standing. These certificates are costly because the government charges more to certify any kind of document. The corporation will then have to ensure all of its filings are up-to-date in order to obtain the Certificate of Status it needs. It is a good idea to know before the Ontario Certificate of Status is ordered whether the corporation has done all of its annual return filings. If the corporation has not filed all of its federal tax returns it can still obtain an Ontario Certificate of Status just as long as too many years have not gone by and the corporation has then been dissolved.
An Ontario Certificate of Status is not the same thing as an Ontario company search. If you are looking to find out information such as addresses, names of officers and directors of a company, etc., this would be considered a corporate search and an Ontario Corporate Profile Report should be obtained instead.
When do you need to obtain a Certificate of Status? Well, if the company is entering into an agreement with another company or individual that company or individual might want to know if the company is in good standing. Sometimes banks or law firms might wish to order a Certificate of Status on a company in cases where property is being sold or for many other reasons. Any company might be asked to provide confirmation to someone or some institution that it is in good standing and a Certificate of Status will be requested.
Resources for Canadian Business Owners provides information about Certificates of Good Standing and other legal products including Ontario Company Searches.
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