INCORPORATING a PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION
To schedule an appointment, contact our law firm at 403-400-4092 or Chris@NeufeldLegal.com
Professionals seeking to optimize their business operations through corporate structuring and the potential tax advantages that it can provide, need to look at the advantages available through the incorporation of one's professional practice as a Professional Corporation. A professional corporation is a legal construct, much in the way of other commercial companies, though having specific restrictions and obligations as a result of being regulated by the governing professional body, and in turn the provincial statute that has been enacted to permit the profession to structure its business operations into a professional corporation.
Currently, the province of Alberta permits the following regulated professions to incorporate as a professional corporation: medicine, dentistry, optometry, chiropractors, physiotherapists, accountants and lawyers. For health related professions, particulars are set forth in the Alberta Business Corporations Act, the Alberta Health Professions Act and the Alberta regulatory body that oversees the specific health profession (i.e., the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA), the College of Dental Surgeons of Alberta (CDSA)). Meanwhile, other professions in Alberta, while not incorporating as professional corporations, nevertheless have specific requirements when incorporating and launching their business in Alberta, i.e., engineers, geoscientists, architects, licensed interior designers.
So what are the advantages available through a professional corporation (doctors/physicians, dentists, chiropractors, physiotherapists, optometrists, accountants). Potential advantages include: reduced corporate tax rates, ability to claim small business deduction, preferred capital gains tax treatment on the disposition of corporate shares including use of lifetime capital gains exemption, allowing family members to hold non-voting shares so as to facilitate income splitting, and tax deferral opportunities.
Providing corporate-commercial legal advice and strategic direction to business enterprises engaged as Alberta provincial corporations or federal corporations, from business formation to corporate governance to contracts and business transactions. Contact our law firm at Chris@NeufeldLegal.com or 403-400-4092 to schedule a confidential initial consultation for your business.
