Registering a Limited Partnership in Canada with a corporate account opening in a top Canadian bank – from 9,500 EUR
We invite you to have a Limited Partnership registered in Canada – a full-scale Canadian company with a local legal address and a corporate bank account. The registration can be done remotely, without a personal visit to Canada. A Limited Partnership (LP) in Canada formed in accordance with all the legal requirements will let you perform payment transactions in US dollars all over the world without any restrictions.
The advantages of having a Canadian LP with a corporate bank account
What are the nice things about an LP registered in Canada? Firstly, such LP’s are less popular than those registered in England or Scotland, and thus they attract less attention.
Secondly, the registration can be done remotely without visiting Canada. The process will be completed approximately in two weeks after the full package of the required documents has been collected.
A Partnership in Canada is a full-scale business company with its own legal address. This company is entitled to opening a corporate account including one in Canada. At the same time, the LP is not considered a Canadian tax resident, and the Partners pay taxes in their home (or resident) countries in conformity with these countries’ taxation rates.
There is no minimal registered capital requirement to LP’s in Canada. The liability of a Limited Partner is limited by the amount of his contribution to the Partnership fund. A General Partner would be liable to the full extent of his or her assets though.
Both private individuals and corporations can act as Partners in an LP. However, if you want to open a bank account in Canada, we recommend using private individuals rather than legal entities. Below we explain why.
An LP in Canada has to keep the books but it does not have to be audited nor pay the corporate tax.
Specifics of a Limited Partnership in Canada
If you are counting on staying in business for a long while and using your Canadian bank account for dollar transactions without any problems (i.e. without facing the offshore sanctions), you will have to follow some rules.
This first such rule is having a Canadian resident Partner Director in the company. Canada strives to rid of sham companies and the presence of a Canadian citizen (or resident) among the Partners is crucially important. We invite you to use our nominee director and partner services.
It is important to note that this person is not an ostensible partner only. He or she performs certain duties and plays an important role in your Canadian company. The resident Canadian Partner is responsible for communication and interaction with the banks and the state authorities. He/ she acts as an on-site company representative and protects its interests.
A real-life example: A Canadian LP started a large project in the country, and involved numerous contractors to carry it out. The bank grew suspicious of the untypical business activities performed by the company and it summoned the resident director for explanations. Thanks to the close cooperation with the beneficiary, the nominee director new exactly what was going on. Therefore, he prepared the necessary documents, came to the bank, gave explanations, and informed the bank officers of the company further actions related to this business project. The officers listened to him very attentively, examined the documents, and decided not to put any more obstacles in the company’s way.
In case the beneficiary had not shared the information with the Canadian Partner (and this decision rests exclusively with the beneficiary), the bank would have called the beneficiary with the same questions they asked of the resident partner. If the beneficiary had answered those questions, the bank might have grown suspicious why a Canadian director was needed at all since he did not know anything about the business.
In case the beneficiary had not answered the bank’s questions and had not provided the required documents, the consequences for his future interactions with the bank would have been even more serious.
The Partnership we invite you to register in Canada shall have minimum two partners and one of them has to be a resident Canadian. Theoretically, a private individual or a legal entity can be the second partner. However, much more documents have to be collected in the case of legal entity and besides, if the company is registered in an offshore zone, it would have too many difficulties opening accounts and doing business in Canada. In the latter case, it would be simply pointless to register an LP in this country. Thus, you will be advised to register the Partnership in the name of a physical person, not a corporation. In this way there will be much less red tape and your future cooperation with the banks will go much more smoothly.
If you want a bank account in any other country apart from Canada, the Partnership can be formed by any kind of constituents, including foreign corporations.
The second factor to be taken into consideration: lack of credit record. Because you are a foreigner in Canada, it is unlikely that you have a credit record in one of the Canadian banks. Without it, any bank will initially impose restrictions on the account use.
For instance, during the first month of operations you cannot transfer more than 30,000 Canadian dollars via the Internet-banking system. Everyday business activities need to be carried out that would show that the company is alive and functional. In case a large single transaction is required, all the legal documents such as bills or invoices have to be collected and sent to the resident director. He or she will then personally take them to the bank and make a personal transfer order.
To insure secure bank transactions we recommend employing us as a secretary company for this purpose. We will check all your documents, make sure that they are in conformity with the relevant national legislation, and help you put the payment orders into good shape. In this manner you can avoid misunderstandings with the bank at the initial stages and with time accumulate a credit record.
Afterwards, when all the restrictions are lifted and you feel sure of yourself, you can do all the transactions on your own. But please do not forget to share the financial information with the resident director. Just in case.
What can speed up relaxation of restrictions is 100,000 Canadian dollars on your account. It is nothing like a deposit (in the meaning of a key deposit in a hotel) and you can certainly use this money but keeping this sum in your account for a couple of weeks will enhance your credibility in the eyes of the bank managers.
When you have accumulated some credit record, you can open a card account in this bank and transfer funds there.
Documents required for an LP registration in Canada
To have a Limited Partnership registered in Canada you have to submit the following documents:
- For every partner:
- A notarized copy of the foreign passport;
- Proof of residence (utility bills, bank statement, etc.);
- A letter of recommendation from you home (residence) country bank;
- The name of the Partnership.
All the documents have to be translated into English and translations apostilled.
Cost of establishing and maintaining a Limited Partnership in Canada
| Service | Description | Fee |
| LP registration | Confirmation of the uniqueness of the company name;
Company registration; Legal address for one year; Postal address for correspondence from state authorities for one year; Registration agent for one year; State duties; One nominee partner for one year; Courier delivery worldwide; Originals of the corporate documents. |
5,250 EUR |
| Annual renewal + extension of the nominee service | 4,750 EUR |
Annual renewal of an LP registered in Canada costs 4,750 EUR and includes the Partnership extension for one year, the nominee Partner extension for one year, and the legal address in Canada extension for the same period of time.
If the Partnership annual income is within 2 million Canadian dollars, the 4,750 EUR is the only mandatory payment for the LP yearly renewal.
If the Partnership annual income exceeds 2 million Canadian dollars, financial reports must be filed. The minimum cost of accounting support for the Partnership is 2,250 EUR per year. Then the ultimate cost of the Canadian LP annual renewal is 7,000 EUR and it includes the Partnership extension, the nominee Partner extension, the legal address in Canada extension and the accounting support.
Office services
| Amendments to the corporate documents or Partnership dissolution | Per one amendment (not including the state duties) | 500 EUR |
| Annual renewal of the LP office | Office maintenance, processing the correspondence from the state authorities, and payment of state duties | 3,000 EUR |
| Virtual office services (for one year) | A postal address in Ontario province
Redirecting the letters to the electronic mail Acceptance of fax messages and postage of the incoming information to the previously indicated e-mail address |
1,750 EUR |
| Notarization of powers of attorney and other documents | Per one document or one bound set of documents | 750 EUR |
| Nominee partner, director, agent, manager | Per year, annual extension | 1,750 EUR |
| Concierge services (min. 3 hours) | Per hour | 125 EUR |
| Courier services | Worldwide | 250 EUR |
| Accounting support for one year | Minimum sum | 2,250 EUR |
| Yearly tax return | Minimum sum | 1,250 EUR |
| Drafting of additional corporate documentation | Per page | 375 EUR |
| Company seal | One piece | 250 EUR |
Opening a corporate bank account for the Canadian LP in a top-class Canadian bank
We suggest that you use the services of a top-class Canadian bank, the second largest financial holding in the country. It provides a wide range of banking, insurance, and investments services. The bank was established in 1955 as the result of the merger of two old Canadian banks.
The financial assets of the holding as a whole exceed one trillion Canadian dollars.
The bank offers services to individuals, businesses, municipal and federal governments. It has branch offices all over Canada and the USA and facilitates transboundary trade between the two countries.
The bank provides the following services to business companies:
- Opening a corporate account (remote account opening is possible);
- Trust account (if you keep your clients’ money);
- Deposit account (for interest accumulation);
- Business investments;
- Financing;
- Cash management;
- Services for transboundary trade with the USA;
- Services for international transactions;
- Insurance services;
- Consultations.
The cost of opening an account in this bank is 3,000 EUR if you want to do it in person (we will meet you at the airport, drive you to the bank and help with the document completion) or 4,250 EUR if you want to do it remotely.
The account will be opened in 14 days after receipt of the full set of documents, both personal and corporate.
Right after the account is set up, you will receive a token that will give you access to the Internet bank system and you will be the only person with such access. The nominee director will not have the access. However, we recommend providing access for the resident director to accounting and other books. This will let him keep track of the events and answer the questions from the bank should they ask any.
For more detailed consultations please contact us at [email protected].
IMPORTANT! In case you have opened a corporate account in a Canadian bank, you will not be able to open an account for your company in any other country.
If you want to open bank accounts in other jurisdictions please apply in advance for a consultation on opening an account. We will offer several options for your consideration – banks or payment systems.
The process of a Canadian LP registration with a corporate account in a first-class bank
- Please apply for this service via e-mail [email protected] and tell us you want to have an LP registered in Canada with a corporate bank account.
- Then give us the basic information about yourself and your business.
- Then you will have to cover the cost of the service. Its price starts at 9,500 EUR.
- After that, you will have to prepare the full set of documents for registering the LP and opening the account.
- The whole process including setting up a bank account will take up to one month.
Please write to us to [email protected] and we will assist you in establishing a business company in a respectable jurisdiction that is going to allow using the US dollar for transactions even if the rest of the world rejects this currency.