Revive a Corporation – Restore a Struck-Off Alberta Corporation

Corporate revival in Alberta: the rules in plain English

• Who: an interested person, meaning a director, shareholder or creditor of the dissolved corporation.
• When: within 10 years of the dissolution. After that, the corporation is gone for good and a new one must be incorporated.
• What is filed: Articles of Revival, a Notice of Directors, a Notice of Address, a Notice of Agent for Service, and all outstanding annual returns.
• The name: if the corporation was dissolved three or more years ago, an Alberta NUANS report less than 91 days old is required. If the name has been taken in the meantime, the corporation revives under a numbered name or a new name.
• The fees: the revival, from $544 + GST in total fees, plus each outstanding annual return, which is filed with it and carries its own government fee. This is why the total varies, and why we show it before you pay.
• The effect: the Certificate of Revival restores the corporation to the register with its rights and obligations. Banks and lenders often ask for a certificate of status afterwards to see the revival on record.
• Why it happened: the reminder for the Alberta annual return goes to the registered office. When that address is stale, the reminder and the notices that follow are never seen, and the corporation is struck for non-filing. Fixing the address is part of every revival we file.
• What it does not do: CRA accounts, the T2 corporate tax returns for the missed years and any GST/HST or payroll filings are separate obligations with CRA. Ask your CPA what is outstanding there; we file with the registry only.

Who this is for

• The owner whose bank froze or closed the corporate account because a search showed the corporation dissolved.
• The owner selling a property, refinancing or signing a lease whose lawyer discovered the corporation no longer exists.
• The owner who moved, never updated the registered office, and has just learned three years of reminders went to the old address.
• The accountant or lawyer reviving a client's corporation before a transaction or a tax filing, who needs the package done in one order, with same-day status confirmation and partner pricing.

How it works

1. You give us the corporation's name in the online form — about five minutes. We run the status check the same business day and send you the dissolution date, the outstanding years and the exact total price.
2. You confirm and fill in the details for the directors, addresses, agent for service and each missed year's annual return. Returning customers see what we have on file.
3. We order the Alberta NUANS report if the corporation has been dissolved three or more years, and confirm the name is still available.
4. A CORES-trained agent prepares and checks the package: Articles of Revival, the three notices and every annual return, in the right order with the right years. We submit it through a licensed Alberta registry agent into CORES. ACS is a private company; we are not a government office or a registry agent.
5. You receive the Certificate of Revival and every filed document by email, and we note the next anniversary month for your reminder.

If a revival cannot be filed, our refund policy explains what happens.

Common mistakes we catch before filing

• Reviving under a name that is now taken. After three years the NUANS report tells us before the filing is rejected, and we discuss a numbered or new name with you first.
• Skipping a missed year. Every outstanding annual return must be filed; a package with a gap is rejected, so we list the years from the registry record rather than from memory.
• The wrong applicant. A bookkeeper or employee is not an interested person; a director, shareholder or creditor is.
• No agent for service in Alberta. The revival needs a Notice of Agent for Service naming an individual located in Alberta, and the owner who moved to BC is no longer one.
• The same stale registered office address. Reviving without fixing the address restarts the cycle that caused the strike-off.

What you need before you start

• The corporation's legal name as it was before dissolution, or its Alberta corporate access number. We run the status check with our free corporate lookup.
• Your connection to the corporation: director, shareholder or creditor. That is what makes you an interested person who can apply.
• The current directors: full names and addresses. Every director must be an adult (18 or older); there is no Canadian-residency requirement.
• A registered office at a physical Alberta address, and an agent for service (an individual located in Alberta who accepts legal documents for the corporation). If you do not have someone in Alberta, we can act through our agent for service service.
• For each outstanding annual return: the directors, addresses and top five shareholders (names, addresses and percentage of issued voting shares) as they stood in that year.
• A credit card. You do not need a registry login, because business owners cannot file in CORES, Alberta's Corporate Registry System, themselves; filings go through a licensed registry agent.

• A status check on the corporation before you pay: the dissolution date, the years outstanding and the exact total, so there is no surprise at the end.
• Articles of Revival, a Notice of Directors, a Notice of Address and a Notice of Agent for Service, prepared by a CORES-trained agent and checked against the corporation's last registry record.
• Every outstanding Alberta annual return, prepared and filed with the revival.
• An Alberta NUANS report (a name search that reserves the name for 90 days) when the corporation has been dissolved for three or more years, added to the total and shown before you pay.
• Filing with Alberta Corporate Registry (the government office that keeps the record of every Alberta corporation) through a licensed registry agent.
• The Certificate of Revival, the filed articles, notices and returns in PDF by email, for your minute book (the corporation's record book), your bank and your CPA.
• A reminder from us before the next anniversary month, so this does not happen again.