Corporate Records

Corporate Minute Books and Record Keeping

What is a Corporate Minute Book?

Under the Ontario Business Corporations Act, a corporation is required to keep, in one book, a record containing the Articles of Incorporation, the corporate by-laws, and the resolutions of the directors and shareholders, along with ledgers and registers of the Corporation’s principals. The initial resolutions set out in the corporate minute book include the names of the directors, shareholders, president, secretary, CEO and COO. They also set out the corporation’s fiscal year end, its corporate accountant, corporate bank, corporate lawyer and registered head office.

Don’t Have a Corporate Minute Book or Haven’t Updated Your Corporate Minute Book?

Do you have a corporation but have neglected to keep proper corporate records in a minute book? We can help. All too common, we prepare retroactive resolutions that bring your corporate minute book up to date and in good standing. If you have no minute book at all, we will reconstruct one. To this end, we will prepare statutory declarations, supporting resolutions, and obtain an official physical minute book for your corporation. Within a week’s time, your corporation will be in good standing.

Annual Resolutions

Each year annual resolutions are required to be prepared to keep your corporate minute books up to date. Each year, the directors and shareholders approve of the corporation’s annual financial statements for the preceding year.

Other Year-End Resolutions: Dividend Resolutions

In addition, annual resolutions often include resolutions that declare capital dividends from the non-taxable portion of a corporation’s capital dividend account (CDA), declare eligible dividends extracted from a corporation’s General Rate Income Pool (GRIP), or declare non-eligible dividends drawn from the corporation’s Low Rate Income Pool (LRIP).

The resolutions may also declare share redemptions (taxed as deemed dividends), management bonuses, or other forms of year-end resolutions in order to extract retained earnings from the corporation in the most tax efficient manner.

With years of experience in corporate and commercial law, Kalfa Law Firm is your premier partner for your corporate records needs.

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