Many people hire a professional to file their annual corporate returns with the Corporation Branch.  I did myself. However, after receiving a $350 bill for a second year in a row without any correspondence or communication from my lawyer, I decided to explore what was entailed in filing my annual corporate return myself.  

It turns out, filing your own corporation annual return is a quick and easy task. In fact, it only took me five minutes to complete. I am much happier reallocating that $350 to myself or my business year after year! 

Here are the 10 simple steps for filing your own annual Saskatchewan corporation report, which is due Jan. 31, 2020.  

1.     Register yourself as the contact person for notifications of when your annual corporation return is due. You will receive an e-mail from Corporations Branch that contains your personal access code, which is required for filing your corporate annual return online.

2.     Log in to the Information Services Corporation’s website.

3.     Select “File” in the navigation bar and search your corporation name.

4.     Select “Annual Return.”

5.     Enter the access code you should have received via e-mail from the Corporations Branch. Select “Next.”

6.     Confirm your business contact information, directors, officers, power of attorney, shareholders, liquidator and receiver-manager (only filling out those that apply). Select “Next” after each section.

7.     Confirm the fees. It costs $50 in Saskatchewan to file and more if you need to rush the submission. Select “Next.”

8.     Review the summary and confirm you are certified to complete the form on behalf of the company. Select “Submit.”

9.     Fill out your credit card information to cover the fees, and select “Make Payment.”

10.  You will instantaneously receive a receipt of payment, which you’ll want to save for your own bookkeeping. You’re now set for the year!  

If I needed to make changes to my corporate structure or needed advice, I would not hesitate to delegate this to a professional.  I am a big believer in hiring professionals to do work I can’t do or don’t want to devote time to do.

Some of the best business advice I can impart is to learn your own business inside and out and then determine who and what professional is the best for you to hire. Understand what work the professional does, how they do it and how they report to you.  Remember, you hire them; they work for you. 

You don’t need to understand how to perform the heart surgery, but you’d best understand what is going to happen before, during and after you go under the knife!

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