Engineering Company – Incorporate in Alberta, Ready for Your APEGA Permit

The APEGA Permit to Practice application fee, $495.25 plus GST, is paid to APEGA separately.

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.

APEGA Permit to Practice for your corporation: what it is and the order of steps

Engineers do not form a professional corporation the way physicians, dentists, lawyers and CPAs do. There is no APEGA-endorsed set of articles to file with Corporate Registry, and "Professional Corporation" is not a designation used for engineers. Instead, the company itself is licensed: any company practising engineering or geoscience in Alberta must hold an APEGA Permit to Practice.

The order matters.

1. Incorporate the Alberta corporation. APEGA requires Service Alberta registration first.
2. Apply to APEGA for the Permit to Practice. The application names a Responsible Member, an APEGA-licensed professional who is accountable for the company's practice, and carries the $495.25 plus GST fee.
3. Practise through the company only once the permit is issued.

If you are comparing this with how other professions incorporate, our guide to Alberta professional corporations walks through each regulator's sequence.

Who this is for

• Professional engineers and geoscientists going out on their own, whose accountant has said "incorporate" and who want the APEGA sequence right the first time.
• Two or three partners forming an engineering consulting company in Alberta who need share classes that match their partnership agreement.
• Incorporated sole practitioners. A sole proprietorship does not need a permit, but the moment you practise through a corporation, the company does.
• Accountants and law firms filing for engineer clients, with documents formatted for the minute book and PDFs the same day.

How it works

1. Order online (about 10 minutes). Answer plain-language questions; the total price is shown before you pay.
2. We review within about an hour. A trained agent checks the NUANS report for conflicts, the name elements, the addresses, each director's age, the agent for service and the share structure. If anything would be rejected, we call you before filing.
3. We prepare and file. We draft the articles and the three notices and submit the package through our licensed registry agent partner, [Partner registry agent name]. Complete orders received before 3:00 pm MT are filed the same business day.
4. You receive your documents and apply to APEGA. The Certificate of Incorporation and filed documents arrive by email with our permit checklist. You submit the Permit to Practice application to APEGA with the fee.

Common mistakes we catch before filing

• A name that implies engineering or geoscience practice with no plan to obtain the APEGA permit.
• Applying to APEGA before the corporation exists. Service Alberta registration comes first.
• No Responsible Member identified, which stalls the permit application after incorporation.
• Signing engineering contracts through the new corporation before the permit is issued.
• A NUANS report older than 90 days at filing, a P.O. box as the registered office, or no agent for service.

What you need before you start

1. Your name choice. A named corporation (distinctive element + descriptive element + legal element such as Ltd. or Inc.) or a numbered company. If the name includes "Engineering" or "Geoscience", plan the permit application alongside it.
2. A registered office. A physical Alberta address where Corporate Registry can send notices; a P.O. box on its own is not enough.
3. Directors. Full legal name and address for at least one adult (18 or older). Alberta removed the Canadian-residency requirement for directors on March 29, 2021.
4. An agent for service. An individual located in Alberta, with an Alberta address, who receives legal documents for the corporation. It does not need to be a lawyer.
5. Shareholders and shares. Who receives shares and how many. If your CPA has planned share classes, send us their instructions and we draft the articles to match.
6. Your Responsible Member. The APEGA-licensed engineer or geoscientist who will be named on the permit application.
7. Valid ID for the incorporator, the person who signs the articles.

Requirements to incorporate an engineering company in Alberta

• Name: distinctive + descriptive + legal element, supported by an Alberta NUANS report less than 91 days old; or a numbered name with no report.
• Directors: at least one adult; no Canadian-residency requirement since March 29, 2021.
• Agent for service: mandatory for every Alberta corporation; an individual located in Alberta with an Alberta address.
• Registered office: a physical Alberta address, not a P.O. box alone.
• Government fee: paid on your behalf and included in the price.
• APEGA Permit to Practice: required for any company practising engineering or geoscience in Alberta. Service Alberta registration comes first, the company names a Responsible Member, and the new application fee is $495.25 plus GST.
• After incorporation: an Alberta annual return is due every year in your anniversary month (none in the year you incorporate). Your business number, GST account and T2 corporate tax return are handled with CRA, and most employers must open a WCB-Alberta account when they hire workers.

• Articles of Incorporation for a company that will practise engineering or geoscience, with the share structure your CPA specifies, reviewed by a CORES-trained agent before filing.
• Notice of Address, Notice of Directors and Notice of Agent for Service, prepared and filed with the articles.
• Certificate of Incorporation and every filed document as PDFs by email. APEGA requires Service Alberta registration before it will issue a permit, so these are the documents your application starts from.
• A name check: we read your Alberta NUANS report (a name search that reserves the name for 90 days) for conflicts before we file, or set you up as a numbered company.
• A Permit to Practice checklist: the order of steps and what APEGA asks for, including your Responsible Member, so you can apply the day your certificate arrives.
• Optional extras, priced separately: a minute book with bylaws, resolutions, registers and share certificates, added to your order for $389 + GST, and a WCB-Alberta account once you hire staff.

Orders received after 3:00 pm MT, or with missing information, are filed the next business day once complete.