Province of Alberta Annual Returns are not Tax Returns

In Alberta corporations have to file what amounts to an annual registration / licensing fee.  It is kind of like renewing your license plate for your car.  The annual cost to file is between 50 and 100 dollars.  This is not something your accountant can do unless they have special programs and access set up directly with registries.  You are responsible for taking care of this yourself unless you have confirmed that your accountant can and will do this for you.  It will usually cost you extra to have your accountant do it for you.

I really hate the name the province of Alberta gave these damn things because everybody assumes that it is tax related and that their accountant has forgotten to do something.  Again with the questions that start off with WTF?

If you don’t file the return (I think I am going to start calling it an annual registration and see if I can get the name to stick) and pay the money your corporation can be struck (forcibly closed without your consent), after which you will have to pay a boat load of money to get it reinstated.  In addition, having your corporation struck will cause problems for you with the CRA and will require extra effort by either you or your accountant to straighten everything out.

The key things in all of this are to not ignore your government mail, don’t assume that your accountant is taking care of everything, and don’t assume (yeah you know  ASS-U-ME) that your accountant F’d up just because you got government mail with bad news.  Let’s face it, it is rare that those government envelopes contain good news.