Unincorporated Business Update – Change Your Trade Name or Partnership Details

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 trade name or partnership is registered under the Partnership Act. There is no periodic renewal, so the record only changes when you file a change. This service covers the routine updates: a new business or home address, a new description of the business, or a correction to an owner's or partner's recorded details. Adding or removing a partner is a separate filing; see change of partners.

Changing the address on a business registration in Alberta

The registration is what banks, landlords and suppliers check when they want to know who is behind the name. If the address on file is out of date, the record stops matching your lease, your bank documents and your CRA accounts, and you end up explaining the gap to each of them. Filing the change keeps one registration, with its original date, instead of a second record for the same business.

Who this is for

• A sole proprietor who moved and whose registration still shows the old address.
• A partnership whose address or activity changed, for example a shop that became an online store.
• An owner whose own details changed, such as a legal name change after marriage.
• Anyone whose bank or landlord has asked for a registration that matches the current address.

How it works

1. Tell us what changed (about 10 minutes). Enter the registered name and the new details; the total price is shown before you pay.
2. We review within about an hour. A trained agent compares your changes with what Corporate Registry has on file and checks that the person signing is a registered owner or partner.
3. We prepare and file. We complete the Partnership Act change form and submit it 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 the filed change by email as a PDF.

Common mistakes we catch before filing

• An address change filed as a brand-new registration, which leaves two records for one business.
• A change to the business name itself ordered as an update. A different name is a new registration, not an update.
• A partner added through this form instead of the change of partners filing.
• A corporation's trade name updated in the director's personal name rather than the corporation's.
• A P.O. box entered where a physical Alberta address is needed.

What you need before you start

1. The registered name exactly as it appears on your certificate, and the registration number if you have it.
2. The new details: the new address, the new business description, or the owner's corrected details.
3. Valid ID for the owner or partner signing the change.
4. For a partnership, which partner is authorizing the change.

Requirements in Alberta

• Trade names and partnerships are registered under the Partnership Act and filed through a registry agent with valid ID.
• There is no periodic renewal. Changes and cancellations are filed through a registry agent when they happen.
• The registration records who is behind the name; it does not protect the name and does not create a separate legal entity.
• The government fee is paid on your behalf and included in the price.
• A change to your business number or GST account is made with CRA, not Corporate Registry.

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