This web site offers small business owners a one-stop source of corporate services, products and information. “We are delighted to bring to the online marketplace the first truly comprehensive site offering Canadian small business owners complete corporate services solutions in an affordable, easy-to-use and efficient manner,” said Lionel J. Perez, Vice President and COO of Corporationcentre.ca.
While other online incorporation services exist, Corporationcentre.ca is unique in a number of respects. “We are the only Canadian online corporate services provider to offer a complete suite of corporate services, namely, incorporation, corporate maintenance, trademark filing and domain registration services. Second, we offer incorporation services for Federal and all of Canada’s ten provincial corporations, in English and French. Third, we are the only online service provider to offer online corporate maintenance services in Canada.”
The services are offered at significantly reduced prices when compared to fees currently charged by professionals such as attorneys. “By developing our own software technology and using the Internet as a channel to access a national market, Corporationcentre.ca is able to lower operating costs, eliminate unnecessary physical processing and build economies of scale – passing on the savings to the small business owner.”
For example, incorporation packages start at $99 for the basic processing of a government Certificate of Incorporation. Fully organized corporations, which attorneys can typically charge up to $1,500 to prepare, will be offered at $199. These include: a Certificate of Incorporation, organizational minutes and resolutions, personalized share certificates, corporate ledgers and by-laws.
To these fees are added government incorporation fees, which range depending on the jurisdiction, from $200 to $350, and optional corporate supplies such as minute books, corporate seals, minute paper and additional share certificates.
Corporate maintenance fees vary depending on the service. Domain name registrations, including the “.ca” top-level domain for Canada, will be offered at competitive market prices.
Perhaps the greatest challenge facing Corporationcentre.ca is the perception that attorneys must execute corporate services, although no such legal requirement exists in Canada. “There is no legal necessity that an attorney perform these services. In fact, most of the time it is not the attorneys but their assistants that perform the actual work,” said Perez, who himself is an attorney. “Furthermore, we developed our technology with the legislative requirements in mind and had the process reviewed by attorneys to ensure statutory compliance and quality control.”
Corporationcentre.ca believes that it can become a viable alternative to professionals for corporate services in the years to come. “The Internet and evolving technologies have had a democratizing effect with respect to knowledge-based services - such as corporate services. By disseminating the knowledge directly to the intended recipient, there is a removal of an intervening layer. In other words, we remove the middleman. This empowers the user, reduces costs and minimizes delays.”
“Ten years ago people typically had their tax returns filed by accountants. Today a large segment of taxpayers do it themselves with accounting software or online. A mere five years ago people still bought and sold their stock through a broker. Today, more and more individuals are doing it themselves with online brokerage services. We view ourselves in the same light. We are facilitating corporations and small business owners to perform for themselves certain services which are currently done by intermediaries.”
With the actual and projected continued growth of business-to-business (B2B) e commerce of the small business sector - which numbers over 1.9 million businesses in Canada – Corporationcentre.ca believes it is in a strategic position to become a market leader in this industry. “With over 80 per cent of the small business sector using the Internet to obtain business information and more than 35 per cent using the Internet for e commerce purposes, Corporationcentre.ca is providing a unique online resource for these small business owners.”
About CorporationCentre.ca
Corporationcentre.com Inc. is a privately held company based in Montreal, Quebec. The company aspires to become the premier Canadian online corporate services provider. For additional information visit their Web site at www.corporationcentre.ca or call 866.906.2677.
