How to Revive a Struck-Off or Dissolved Alberta Corporation

Almost every strike-off starts with an annual return that was not filed. The return is due every year in the anniversary month of incorporation, and Corporate Registry mails the reminder to the registered office one month before.

When the return is not filed, the registry sends notices. When the notices are ignored, the corporation is struck, which is registry shorthand for dissolved. Alberta.ca puts it plainly: "your corporation may be dissolved." Practitioners describe the pattern as warning notices first, then strike-off after repeated non-filing, with some citing roughly three years of missed returns.

The usual reason the notices were ignored is that nobody saw them. The registered office on file is an old house, a former accountant, or a lawyer who retired. Everything the registry sent went there. Our guide to Alberta annual return deadlines and strike-off explains the full sequence.

Step 1: Confirm the status and the dissolution date

Search the corporation by legal name or corporate access number. A free lookup shows whether it is struck or dissolved and when. Our guide on how to search for a company in Alberta explains the status terms.

The dissolution date drives two rules. Revival must happen within 10 years of it, and if it is three or more years ago, a new Alberta NUANS report is required.

Step 2: Check that you can apply

The applicant must be an interested person: a director, a shareholder or a creditor of the dissolved corporation. In plain terms, that is someone who ran it, owned part of it, or is owed money by it. Someone with none of those connections cannot apply on their own.

Step 3: Gather the revival package

Alberta requires the following for a corporate revival:

• Articles of Revival, the document that asks the registry to restore the corporation.
• Notice of Directors, listing who the directors are now.
• Notice of Address, giving a current registered office in Alberta.
• Notice of Agent for Service, naming an individual located in Alberta with an Alberta address. The agent does not need to be a lawyer.
• Every outstanding annual return, one for each missed year, each confirming the directors, addresses and top five voting shareholders for that year.
• An Alberta NUANS report, less than 91 days old, if the corporation was dissolved three or more years ago.

We prepare all of it from a single set of details. You tell us who the directors and shareholders are and where the corporation lives; we build the notices and each year's return.

Step 4: File the outstanding annual returns

Each missed year is a separate return with its own $50 government fee. We check the record, list the years, and show you the total before anything is paid. Filing one year and skipping another leaves the revival incomplete.

Step 5: File the revival and receive the certificate

The package goes to Corporate Registry through a licensed registry agent. When it is accepted, the registry issues a Certificate of Revival, and the corporation is restored. We send the certificate and the filed documents by email.

Step 6: Fix what caused it

Confirm the new registered office is one you actually check, appoint an agent for service who will still be there next year, and note the anniversary month. We remind you before the next annual return is due.

Be careful here, because the details depend on your situation. Once a corporation is dissolved, it is not a functioning legal entity, and banks often restrict or freeze the account when they learn of it. Contracts signed, invoices issued and assets held while the corporation was dissolved raise questions that a lawyer should answer before the revival, not after.

The practical advice: revive first, quickly, and take the Certificate of Revival to the bank. Ask your lawyer about anything the corporation did during the gap.

Our prices are total fees before GST (5%), government fee included. Government fees mentioned in this guide are current as of September 2026; confirm against the Alberta Registry agent product catalogue.

A corporation struck after two missed returns costs far less to revive than one that has been dormant for six years. The sooner you start, the smaller the bill.

Once we have the directors, shareholders, addresses and agent for service, we typically have the package filed within 2 to 5 business days. Two things add time: waiting for a NUANS report when one is required, and reconstructing shareholder details for years nobody kept records for.

If the bank is waiting, tell us. We prioritize the order and send you a written status you can forward.

• Keep the registered office current. The reminder and every notice go there. Update it the same week you move.
• Appoint an agent for service who will stay put. If your agent was a director who moved to another province, file a change.
• Use a reminder service. We record the anniversary month with every return we file and remind you before the next one.
• Keep one list of every corporation you own. Holding companies and numbered companies are the ones that quietly lapse.

• Reviving under a name that is now taken. After three years the NUANS report may show a new company using your old name. Check before you file, not after the registry refuses it.
• Missing a year. Every outstanding annual return must be filed, not just the most recent one.
• The wrong applicant. Only an interested person can apply. A new investor with no shares cannot revive the corporation on their own.
• Leaving the old registered office on file. The corporation will be struck again for the same reason.
• Waiting. The 10-year window is generous, but banks and counterparties are not. Every week dissolved is a week of stalled business.
• Signing new contracts before the revival. Ask a lawyer before the corporation does anything while it is dissolved.