NUMBERED COMPANY ADVANTAGES (very little)
Contact our law firm for your incorporation legal work at 403-400-4092 / 905-616-8864 or Chris@NeufeldLegal.com
Deciding to incorporate a numbered company (i.e., 3456789 Ontario Inc. or 223344 Alberta Ltd.), as opposed to a named company (i.e., Toronto Tech Corp. or Calgary Consultants Ltd.) is a strategic decision that previously prioritized speed and administrative efficiency over brand development. The chief advantage of the numbered structure had been the immediate simplification of the registration process, although this has been largely eliminated by technological advancements. Named companies are required to submit a comprehensive name search (a NUANS report) to ensure the proposed name is unique and not confusingly similar to existing corporate names or trademarks. This review process adds both time (although minimal today) and cost to the incorporation (typically less than $100), and the proposed name can be rejected or present a conflict (which can create a delay in those few instances, in particular with federal incorporations). A numbered company bypasses this entire bureaucratic step, as the government registry automatically assigns the next available unique number, allowing the incorporation documents to be filed and approved almost instantaneously.
This limited advantage as to speed and cost, makes the numbered structure appopriate in a few circumstances, in particular where public branding is largely irrelevant. For instance, numbered companies are often the preferred structure for holding companies, entities designed solely to hold assets like real estate, investments, or shares in other corporations. Since these companies do not interact directly with the general public or clients, a descriptive, marketable name is unnecessary.
Furthermore, a numbered company offers a higher degree of anonymity regarding the corporate particulars. The numerical name provides a neutral corporate shell, which is extremely useful when the owners are not striving to make the company publicly visible or otherwise discernable, beyond what is legally mandated. It is but one of a massive number of companies that bears a numerical name with jurisdictional identifier, yet no other discernable differentiation from any other numbered company. Such anonymity exists primarily with provincially incorporated numbered companies, given that federally incorporated numbered companies are freely searchable on the federal government's online database, providing considerable internal details as to the federal company's ownership, directors and registered address, which runs contrary to anonymity.
However, in most instances, especially where it is an operating company, there really is little value in incorporating a numbered company, such that minimal added cost associated with a named company, makes the incorporation of a named company more advantageous and our professional suggestion in almost every situation.
So if you are looking to incorporate a new corporation or deal with the corporate legalities impacting your company, contact us at 403-400-4092 [Alberta], 905-616-8864 [Ontario] or via email at Chris@NeufeldLegal.com.
