Remission Policy of Corporations Canada

You will find information on how we will apply the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada Service Fees Remission Policy principles and requirements.

This policy:

establishes a principles-based approach to service fee remissions;
helps to ensure that ISED administers remissions in a manner which is fair and consistent across the Department; and
provides individual program authorities with the flexibility to manage remissions in ways that make sense for the program and its users.

What is a remission

A remission is the reimbursement issued when the service subject to this policy is completed after the defined time period.

Most of our services with fees of $200 or more are subject to a remission under the Departmental policy. Services with fees below $200 are not eligible for a remission because they are exempt as low materiality fees (see Low-materiality Fees Regulations).

Remissions will be made when a response is not sent to an applicant within a period that comprises the service standard plus a grace period.

While the service standard is 1 business day for online services and 10 business days for non-online services, the remission will only be issued if the service standard and a reasonable grace period are exceeded.
In the case of online services, the grace period is 4 business days and for non-online services, 5 business days.
The grace period takes into account the high volume of applications we receive (over 380,000 fee services per year) and our high service standards, which are met 97% of the time.

If the applicant does not receive a response from us within that period, a remission of fifty percent (50%) of the fee will be provided. A response based on the examination of the application can be the issuance of a certificate or a notice asking for additional information to make a decision.

We must have a complete application to deliver. An application is complete when:

it includes all necessary documents,
forms are completed and signed (application by email or mail); and
the fee is included.

Our fees and service standards are available online.

Fee-based services eligible for a remission

Services	Fee	Time period within which the service wasn't processed	Reimbursement
Filed online
Amalgamation Amendment Continuance Incorporation Letter of satisfaction	$200	5 business days (1-day service standard + 4-day grace period)	$100
Filed by email or mail
Amalgamation Amendment Cancellation Continuance Correction Incorporation Letter of satisfaction Revival	$250	15 business days (10-day service standard + 5-day grace period)	$125
Arrangement	$505	10 business days (5-day service standard + 5-day grace period)	$252.50
Exemptions	$250	35 business days (30-day service standard + 5-day grace period)	$125

Remission characteristics

Format and timing

In cases where a remission is to be issued, we will start processing the remission once the certificate has been issued or the application has been withdrawn or is considered withdrawn. In most cases, the remission will be issued in the original payment method.

Amount

The amount of each remission will be 50% of the service fee. We incur costs for processing and reviewing the application even if a remission is issued.

Eligibility

Eligibility criteria

Unless following special conditions apply, an applicant is eligible for a remission of the service fee if we have not issued a response within the defined time period.

Special conditions

An applicant is not eligible for a fee remission if the defined time period is exceeded due to one of the following conditions:

unforeseeable event (for example, an emergency situation, work stoppage, power failure, other unanticipated or unavoidable situations); or
system outage.

Processing a remission

Remissions will be processed as follows:

1. Confirmation of eligibility to receive a remission

On a daily basis, an automated system will flag applications where we responded to an application after the expiration of the defined time period.

We will review each flagged application to determine whether the applicant is eligible for a remission or not by applying the eligibility criteria.

2. Issuance of a fee remission

If an applicant is eligible for a remission, we will send a notice to inform the applicant of the amount to be reimbursed.

We will reimburse applicants according to the applicant's method of payment for the service:

Method of payment for the service	How you will be reimbursed
Filed online
Credit card	A credit will be applied to the credit card used for the initial payment. If the card has expired, we will contact the applicant to obtain new credit card information.
Debit card	Note: Debit is no longer accepted as of November 19, 2022.
Filed by email or mail
Credit card	We will contact the applicant to obtain the credit card information.
Cheque	We will reimburse applicants using direct deposit, and will contact the applicant to obtain the necessary account information.

When collecting information from applicants is needed to process remissions, we will attempt to contact applicants up to 2 times. After the second attempt, the applicant will be responsible for contacting us with the necessary information in order to receive their remission.

The Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada Service Fees Remission Policy complies with the Service Fees Act (SFA) and associated Treasury Board policy instruments, notably the Directive on Charging and Special Financial Authorities.

Language selection

WxT Search form