Your corporation is moving to BC. Two different doors.

Door one: extra-provincial registration

The corporation stays in its home jurisdiction and registers in BC: simpler, faster, common for a transition year. But income follows your permanent establishment: move yourself and the operation here and BC taxes it, whatever the certificate says.

Door two: continuance into BC

The corporation legally emigrates and becomes a BC corporation, same legal person, history intact: cleaner for a permanent move, with one registry and one annual report. It needs home-jurisdiction authorization and a corporate lawyer; see our lawyer-partner page.

The tax-side checklist, either door

• CRA program accounts continue, but addresses, and payroll’s provincial dimension, need updating so remittances and slips report the right province of employment.
• PST is new to most arrivals: BC’s PST is its own system, not an HST — registration turns on what you sell and to whom. Coming from Alberta (no PST) or an HST province, this is the trap. Start at the BC tax facts.
• The year of the move allocates income between provinces by the rules, not by vibes — worth doing deliberately in the first year-end after the move.
• WorkSafeBC and other province-tied registrations restart here even though federal accounts do not.

Choosing between the two doors

It usually turns on whether anything stays in the old province. If owner, staff, equipment and customers all move west, continuance is tidier. If part stays, or it is a trial year, extra-provincial registration keeps options open at the cost of two sets of filings. For anyone searching “moving corporation to another province”, the choice is the same two doors: extra-provincial registration or continuance.

Moving your corporation to another province does not, on its own, change the business number, CCPC status or year-end; the registry and its rules are what change. That means where the CCPC files its annual report, which registry can strike it off, and whose rules govern shares and records. Those are legal questions first; we cover the tax side beside your lawyer.

Coming from Alberta

Alberta corporations are the most common arrivals, and the move changes more than the rate table suggests. On active business income eligible for the small business deduction, the combined rate is 11% in both provinces. On general income it rises from 23% in Alberta to 27% in BC, which matters for a company earning above the $500,000 small business limit.

The bigger shift is administrative. Alberta owners have never registered for, charged or absorbed PST; BC adds 7% PST to the 5% GST, with its own registration and return. The Alberta AT1 corporate return stops once income is no longer allocated there. Our Ontario guide covers companies keeping a presence there.

Coming from Ontario

Ontario charges a single 13% HST, all recoverable through input tax credits. In BC the 5% GST is still recoverable, but 7% PST on inputs is generally a cost. A company used to recovering all its sales tax should budget for that in its first BC year.

Ontario also has its own employer health tax and its own registry annual return, filed directly with the province. Once the corporation continues out, that return stops; while it remains registered there, it does not. The provincial tables cover the side you are leaving.

The first year-end after the move

The year the business moves is the year most likely to be filed wrongly. Income is allocated between provinces by where the corporation had a permanent establishment and by the salaries and gross revenue attributable to each one. A year split between Calgary and Kelowna, for example, is usually allocated to both provinces, not wholly to the new one.

That allocation sets the provincial tax, so base it on records kept through the year. The T2 is still due six months after year-end, with any balance usually due two or three months after it; the T2 deadline calculator gives both dates.

Payroll after the move

Source deductions follow the province of employment. An employee who moves with the company switches to BC tables from the first pay after the move, and the T4 must show the right province, or the employee’s return is off even if the total remittance was right.

On the employer side, BC employer health tax applies once annual BC remuneration exceeds $1,000,000, and WorkSafeBC coverage is a fresh registration with its own classification. The payroll deduction calculator is a quick check on the new withholding.

Keeping the books through the move

Protect yourself with books tagging revenue, wages and assets by province from the day the move is decided. That supports the allocation, PST return and payroll switch, so the first BC year-end is a confirmation. Our accounting services page covers ongoing work.

Fees are fixed before anything starts. Bookkeeping starts at $325 a month with GST filing included, a personal return from $125, and a single Advice Call is $225 + GST. The corporate return is quoted after we review your enquiry, and the pricing page sets out what each level covers.

Fastest first step: email what you’re facing to info@everstonecpa.com — reply within one business day, and we take it from there by email.

General information, not tax advice. The document in your hand and its own dates govern.