Free checklist
Just incorporated? The 12-step setup checklist
Reviewed July 2026 by Sunny Dhillon, CPA (CPABC)
Everything a new BC corporation needs to set up in its first 90 days — in order, with the guide for each step. Print it, or have it emailed to you.
- Set up the minute book. Your incorporation documents, share register and resolutions are legal requirements, not paperwork theatre. Keep them current from day one — lenders and buyers will ask for them years from now.
- Get your Business Number and program accounts. The CRA issues one Business Number (BN) with program accounts hanging off it: RC (corporate tax), RT (GST/HST), RP (payroll). Open the ones you need in CRA My Business Account. Guide →
- Open a corporate bank account. The corporation is a separate taxpayer — its money is not your money. A dedicated account (plus a corporate card) is the single best defence against a messy shareholder-loan problem later. Guide →
- Choose your fiscal year-end. You get one free choice within 53 weeks of incorporating. A deliberate year-end (often not December) smooths workload and can defer tax on your first bonus. Guide →
- Decide on GST/HST registration. Registration is mandatory once taxable sales pass $30,000 over four rolling quarters — and often worth doing voluntarily earlier to claim input tax credits. Guide →
- Check whether BC PST touches you. Selling or leasing taxable goods, software or certain services in BC means separate PST registration — and PST expands to professional services October 1, 2026. Guide →
- Set up payroll if you will take salary. Salary needs an RP account and monthly source-deduction remittances; unremitted amounts carry personal director liability. Decide salary vs dividends deliberately. Guide →
- Register with WorkSafeBC if hiring. Registration is generally required when you take on workers in BC. Premiums are payroll-based; keep it current from the first hire.
- Put a bookkeeping system in place. Cloud accounting (QuickBooks Online or Xero) connected to the corporate bank feed, reconciled monthly — from month one, not at year-end. Guide →
- Plan how you will pay yourself. Salary builds RRSP room and CPP; dividends are simpler with no CPP. Most owners land on a deliberate mix — decide it, do not default into it. Guide →
- Calendar the deadlines. T2 due six months after year-end (tax owing earlier), GST on your filing schedule, T4s by end of February, instalments once you owe enough. Guide →
- Book a CPA before the first year-end. The expensive mistakes (missed elections, shareholder-loan tangles, wrong year-end) happen in year one and get fixed retroactively at multiples of the cost. A one-hour setup conversation is the cheapest accounting you will ever buy. Guide →
Get the checklist by email
We will send you the link to this page plus the year-end tax-moves PDF. No newsletter unless you ask for it.
This checklist is general information for new BC corporations as of July 2026, not advice for your specific situation. Steps like PST, payroll and WorkSafeBC depend on what your business does — talk to a CPA to confirm yours.
Want the setup done with you, not just listed?
Book a free consult — we will walk your new corporation through every step and quote a fixed fee for the year.
