Registered Office Address in Canada: What to Declare

Corporations Canada publishes your corporation's registered office address in a free public database. So does the Quebec enterprise register. If you incorporated from your kitchen table and used your home address, that address is now searchable by anyone who types your company name.

Rules and prices below were verified on August 21, 2026. Confirm current amounts with the official source before you commit.

What is a registered office address?

The registered office is the legal address of a corporation. Under section 19(1) of the Canada Business Corporations Act, a federal corporation must at all times have a registered office in the province named in its articles. It is where corporate records are kept and where official documents are served on the corporation.

Corporations Canada is blunt about the consequence of choosing badly. Pick an address where you will actually receive documents, because legally they are assumed to have been received by the corporation once they arrive there. A missed statement of claim does not become less binding because nobody opened the envelope.

In Quebec the equivalent concept is the siège. Section 29 of the Quebec Business Corporations Act requires it to be located permanently in Quebec, and section 31 requires the corporation to keep its articles, by-laws, unanimous shareholder agreement, minutes and securities register at that address. Your minute book is supposed to live there.

Is a registered office address public?

Yes, and there is no way to opt out. Corporations Canada states that a corporation's registered office address, the names and addresses of its directors, and information about its individuals with significant control are public information, published in its online database and available even after the corporation is dissolved.

The reasoning is deliberate. Public filing lets shareholders, lenders and counterparties find out who is responsible for a corporation before they deal with it. The Quebec enterprise number exists for the same reason.

Can I use my home address as my business address?

You can. Nothing in either statute stops you, and a large share of Canadian small corporations do exactly that. The question is whether you want the consequences.

Your home address becomes a public record tied to your company name, which means it can be scraped, resold and indexed. Moving triggers a filing deadline. And residential leases and municipal zoning by-laws sometimes restrict commercial activity in a dwelling, particularly once clients or deliveries start showing up.

For a consultant who works at client sites and never receives visitors, a home address is usually fine. For a corporation that plans to raise money, hire, or deal with suppliers who run credit checks, it becomes an irritant fast.

How do I keep my home address off the public record?

Directors have one tool and corporations have another. They are not the same tool, and mixing them up is the most common mistake here.

A federal director may provide an address for service instead of a residential address. Corporations Canada defines it as an address where legal documents must be accepted by the director or by someone acting on the director's behalf. It cannot be a post office box, and it is still public. It simply is not your house.

In Quebec, the equivalent is the professional address, in force since March 31, 2023. A natural person listed in the file, a director, shareholder or ultimate beneficiary, can declare their principal place of work so the home address is not published. Three limits apply: the home address must still be declared privately, a post office box is not accepted, and one person may have only one professional address, identical across every enterprise where they appear.

Neither tool touches the corporation's own address. To change what the register shows for the company, you have to change the company's address.

Can a registered office address be a PO box?

No. Corporations Canada states plainly that the registered office address cannot be a post office box, and that a director's address cannot be one either. Quebec applies the same rule to the professional address.

The point is service of documents. A registry needs an address where a human being can hand something to someone. A mailbox behind a counter does not satisfy that, which is why virtual address providers sell a civic street address with mail handling rather than a box number.

What does a business address service cost in Canada?

Quebec mailing address and virtual office packages generally run about $50 to $70 per month, often with a three-month minimum. Centre d'affaires de l'Avenir lists $68.95 plus tax monthly, and Multi-Centre Saint-Charles advertises packages at $54.06 and $65.02 monthly.

One caution worth stating clearly. A virtual address gives you an address, not a place of business. If your corporation actually operates somewhere else in Quebec, that location has to be declared as an establishment on the register regardless.

How do I change a registered office address?

Federally, the directors may change the place and address of the registered office within the province named in the articles, then the corporation must send notice to the Director within fifteen days of the change. Filing through the Online Filing Centre is free and needs a corporation key. Moving to a different province is a bigger step, because it means amending the articles.

In Quebec the deadline is thirty days and the filing is a current updating declaration through Mon bureau, also free unless you ask for priority processing. If your annual updating declaration window is already open, that filing can satisfy both obligations at once.

What happens if the address on file goes stale?

Mail bounces, reminders stop arriving, and the corporation drifts into default without anyone noticing. Federally, missing annual returns leads to dissolution. In Quebec, repeated failure to file leads to ex officio striking off, and a struck-off corporation cannot operate normally until it is revived.

The address is a small field with a large blast radius. It is also the field people forget, because unlike a tax filing, nothing prompts you when it goes wrong.

Frequently asked questions

Is the registered office the same as the head office?

Not necessarily. The registered office is the legal address on file with the registry, where records are kept and documents are served. A head office is where management actually sits. They are often the same address, but a corporation can register one address and run its operations from another as long as both are properly declared.

Can my lawyer or accountant be my registered office?

Yes, if they agree to it. Many professional firms offer this. Remember that the address becomes the point where lawsuits and demand letters are formally served, so the arrangement only works if your advisor forwards mail promptly and understands that responsibility.

Does changing my address with the CRA update the corporate registry?

No. The Canada Revenue Agency, Revenu Québec, your bank, your insurer and the corporate registry each keep separate records. Updating one does not update the others. Build a checklist before you move rather than discovering the gaps afterward.

Can a non-resident use a virtual address to incorporate in Canada?

A virtual address can serve as the registered office, but residency rules apply separately. A CBCA corporation generally needs at least twenty-five percent resident Canadian directors, and where there are fewer than four directors, at least one must be a resident Canadian.

Do I need a Quebec address if I incorporated federally?

If your federal corporation carries on activities in Quebec, it must register with the Quebec enterprise register and declare a Quebec contact. Our comparison of federal and provincial incorporation covers what that adds in practice.

Decide the address before you incorporate

The registered office is declared at incorporation, before the corporation legally exists. That is the cheapest moment to think about it, because fixing it later means a resolution, a filing, and often a round of contract updates.

Lexstart incorporates Quebec and federal corporations and prepares the minute book that belongs at the registered office. If you want a second opinion on which address to declare, get in touch or review our pricing.