How to Obtain an Alberta Certificate of Status
Alberta Certificates of Status are issued by the Alberta Corporate Registry for Alberta companies. Sometimes these are called Certificates of Good Standing or Certificates of Compliance and all companies registered in all jurisdictions in Canada and for that matter all countries can obtain these certificates when needed. In the Alberta jurisdiction they are called Certificates of Status.
Sometimes you will be required to provide an Alberta Certificate of Status to another company that wants to do business with you or to a bank or other financial institution.
An Alberta Certificate of Status will tell you whether the company has done all of its corporate filings and whether it is still an active company. It does not confirm that tax returns have been filed. Each year in Alberta a company must file what is called an Alberta Annual Return. If the company has not been doing its filings its Alberta Certificate of Status will not be clear.
The Alberta Certificate of Status will show the current name of the company on record, the date of incorporation of the Alberta company and the Alberta Access Number of the company.
The government does not refund the money if the Certificate of Status cannot be issued. Basically it will issue a Certificate of Status that indicates the Alberta company is not in compliance and you will then need to file any outstanding Alberta annual returns and order a new Certificate of Status. Certificates of Status are costly so if you know in advance you have not made your filings you should at the least ensure all Alberta annual returns are filed before ordering your Certificate of Status. If you have some outstanding tax returns but have not been dissolved then you will still receive a favourable Certificate of Status as long as your annual returns have been filed with the Alberta Corporate Registry. Basically if too many years go by without filing your federal tax returns the Canada Revenue Agency requests the Alberta Corporate Registry to dissolve your company.
A Certificate of Status is not an Alberta corporate search. If you are trying to determine information about an Alberta company you should have an Alberta corporate search done rather than ordering a Certificate of Status.
Resources for Canadian Business Owners can assist you with an Alberta Certificate of Good Standing and Alberta Company Searches as well as other legal and government registrations and searhces.. This article, How to Obtain an Alberta Certificate of Status is released under a creative commons attribution license.


June 12, 2011
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Posted by Holly Crosgrey
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