• Business Name Registration
• Name Approval
• Proprietorship, Partnership or Incorporation?
• Registering a Sole Proprietorship or Partnership
• Registering a Corporation
• Federal Incorporation
• Society and Other Legal Structures
• Business License
• Taxation
• Workers' Compensation Board
• Employment Standards

Society and Other Legal Structures

Business legal structures

There are several other legal structures you can register your business name under. You can register as a Society, a Cooperative and as a Financial Institution.

Society
A society is a not-for-profit organization. Any funds or profits must be used only for purposes of the society itself. Funds or profits cannot be distributed to a member of a society without the member giving appropriate compensation to the society first.

By filing the necessary documents and paying the prescribed fees, five or more individuals can form a society.

Societies are not required by law to incorporate. However, there are benefits to incorporating. When a society is incorporated, it acquires all of the powers of an individual, as well as an independent existence -- separate and distinct from its members -- and an unlimited life expectancy.

If you have any questions about whether or not to incorporate, you should see a lawyer. Societies are incorporated in British Columbia according to the provisions of the Society Act. Copies of the act and regulations are available from:

Crown Publications in Victoria at (250) 386-4636 or from
International Travel Maps & Books in Vancouver at (604) 687-3320.

Every director and member of a society should read the Society Act and regulations.

Cooperative
Cooperatives (Co-ops) differ from traditional businesses in that they are owned and democratically controlled by the people who use their services. Co-ops are operated for the benefit of members and members must have a say in decisions affecting the co-op.

Since they are developed through consensus and run on the democratic principle of “one member, one vote,” co-ops can be more complex to set up and operate than traditional businesses.

If you want to know more about co-ops, you should contact a lawyer. You should also go to the Canadian Co-operative Association (BC Region) website: http://www.bcca.coop.

Financial Institution
Financial institutions consist of British Columbia trust companies and insurance companies, extra provincial trust companies and insurance companies and British Columbia credit unions.

Maintenance filings are done for both British Columbia and extra provincial registered financial institutions.

For additional information on filing requirements or assistance to complete these documents, please contact:

the Corporate Examinations Unit at (250) 356-8626 or direct dial free line from Vancouver (604) 775-1047.