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Part of Doing business with government

Updates to Alberta’s business corporation legislation

Modernized Business Corporations Act aims to ensure Alberta is the destination-of-choice for innovators, entrepreneurs, and job-creators.

Overview

The Business Corporations Act (BCA) sets out the legislative requirements and mechanisms for a business to incorporate in Alberta and maintain that corporation, including, but not limited to, changing its corporate name, filing annual returns, and changing directors and shareholders of that corporation.

Recent changes

Legislative changes

Service Alberta reviewed the Business Corporations Act between July 2020 and September 2021 to keep pace with other jurisdictions, and to modernize and enhance Alberta’s competitiveness to attract corporations.

In November 2021, the BCA was amended make it easier for businesses to operate in Alberta by making financial reporting more flexible, clarifying roles for directors and shareholders, and reducing costs and time for businesses to navigate legal proceedings.

These amendments were proclaimed on May 31, 2022 and are now in effect.

Regulatory changes

In addition to the amendments above in November 2021, a change to the Business Corporations Regulation was made to allow distributing corporations to use United States (U.S.) – based generally accepted accounting principles, if they are subject to applicable accounting standards in the U.S.

That regulatory change came into force on May 31, 2022.

News releases

Fact sheet

A number of our changes have made Alberta’s business legislation a leader in Canada.

Publications