Copy of Last Annual Return – Your Alberta Corporation's Filed Return

ACS is a private company. Our CORES-trained agents prepare your filing and submit it through a licensed Alberta registry agent. We are not a government office or a registry agent. CORES is Alberta's Corporate Registry System, and business owners cannot file in it themselves.

An Alberta annual return is the registry filing due every year in the corporation's anniversary month. It confirms the directors, the addresses and the top five shareholders: their names, addresses and percentage of issued voting shares. It is separate from the T2 corporate tax return filed with CRA and from the annual resolutions in the minute book. A copy of the most recent return is the document lawyers, lenders and buyers ask for when they want to see what the corporation told the registry.

Proof of annual return filing in Alberta: who asks for it and why

• Lawyers in a share sale or financing, to confirm who the registry shows as directors and shareholders.
• Lenders, to confirm the corporation is filing and who controls it.
• Accountants, to reconcile the shareholder list in the minute book with what was filed.
• Owners, to confirm the return was filed and what it said, often after a change of bookkeeper.

Who this is for

• An owner who needs proof that the last return was filed.
• A CPA, bookkeeper or lawyer preparing a minute book, a sale or a financing for a client.
• A director who suspects the last return reported the wrong shareholders and wants to see it before correcting it.

How it works

1. Order online (about 5 minutes). Give us the corporation's exact legal name or its corporate access number.
2. We check the corporation with our free corporate lookup to confirm we have the right one and that it is not struck off.
3. We order the copy through our licensed registry agent partner, [Partner registry agent name], usually the same business day.
4. You receive the return as a PDF by email.

Common mistakes we catch before filing

• A copy ordered for a corporation with nothing on file yet. No return is due in the year of incorporation, so a new corporation has no filed return to copy.
• A struck corporation. If Corporate Registry has dissolved it for missed returns, the copy shows the last return before the strike-off, and what the corporation needs is a revival, which includes every outstanding return.
• Expecting current shareholders. The return shows the top five shareholders as of filing; share transfers since then are minute-book transactions, not registry filings.
• Expecting officers. Alberta Corporate Registry does not record officers; they live in the corporation's own registers.
• A similar name. We confirm the corporation by its corporate access number before ordering.

What you need before you start

1. The corporation's exact legal name or its corporate access number.
2. Plain or certified, if whoever asked for the copy specified one.
3. The email address for delivery, and the client reference you want on the receipt if you are ordering for a client.

Requirements in Alberta

• The annual return is due every year in the anniversary month of incorporation; none is due in the year of incorporation. Corporate Registry sends a reminder to the registered office one month before.
• It confirms the directors, the addresses and the top five shareholders by names, addresses and percentage of issued voting shares.
• It is a registry filing, separate from the T2 tax return and from the resolutions in the minute book.
• Miss it and Corporate Registry sends notices; keep missing it and the corporation is struck (dissolved).
• Copies are ordered through a registry agent, and the government fee is included in our price.

Orders received after 3:00 pm MT go out the next business day. If the status check shows the corporation has missed a return, we tell you before ordering so you can file the annual return first.