Overview
If you are the owner or director of an eligible business, you can open a Business account with Wealthsimple. We offer the following business account options:
Invest for Business
An account managed by Wealthsimple for businesses. Managed investing accounts are a part of Wealthsimple's automated investing service. With an Invest for Business account, we will invest your funds on your behalf in a personalized portfolio of low-fee exchange-traded funds.
Invest for Business accounts can be held in any of the following portfolio types:
Save for Business
A savings account with a minimum 2.75% interest rate. A Save for Business account is a good choice when you need to access your funds quickly. Learn more about Save for Business interest rates.
Eligibility criteria
To open a Wealthsimple corporate account, your business must:
- Be registered in Canada
- Be a Canadian-controlled private corporation
- Be either an incorporated entity or a registered charity
Note: If you have an incorporated business, it must have a single layer of ownership structure. It can’t be owned by another entity. - Be an active or passive non-financial entity (it can’t be a financial institution)
- Not be a strata or condominium corporation
- Have a 9-digit federal business number
You must also be a director or owner of the business. Alternatively, you can be officially authorized to act on behalf of the business to sign agreements and handle accounts with Wealthsimple.
How to open a Business account
If you already have a Wealthsimple profile, please do not create a new profile only for your business account. This causes a technical issue that must be resolved. You must open a Business account with your personal profile.
If you don’t have a Wealthsimple profile, please sign up through the Wealthsimple mobile app (iOS or Android) or on the web.
You can open a Business account on the Wealthsimple desktop website. To open a Business account:
- Log in to your Wealthsimple profile
- From the Home tab, select + Add an account
- Choose Corporate from the account options menu
- Choose Invest for Business or Save for Business
- Select Next
- Follow the prompts on-screen to finish submitting basic information about your business
Check your email and prepare additional documents
Once you submit your account opening request, our team will review the information you provided for your business against the business registry records. If everything is in good order, we will send you additional forms to your email via DocuSign within 3-5 business days.
If you’re the sole owner and director of your business, the DocuSign envelope will include the government-mandated tax treaty claim forms necessary for us to apply the reduced withholding tax rate on your U.S.-sourced income.
If your business has any director(s) and/or owners in addition to yourself, the DocuSign envelope will also include the forms necessary for us to collect information from the other parties and agreements for all parties to sign. In this case, the DocuSign envelope will be sent to you and all the other identified individuals associated with your business.
Once you (and all other parties, if any) sign the forms, our team will review the returned envelope and activate your corporate account within 3-5 business days if all is in good order.
In some cases, we may need additional supporting documents from you to help us verify your business. This will include but are not limited to:
- Corporation Profile Report
- Article of Association
- Certificate of Registration
- Address change confirmation/Notice of address change/Form 4003
- Certificate of Continuation
- Notice of Articles
- Notice of Change
- Notice of Incorporation
- Certificate of Amendment
- CRA Notice of Assessment
Link a corporate bank account
You can link a corporate bank account (chequing or savings) to your Wealthsimple profile to fund and make withdrawals from your corporate account. Learn more about linking a corporate bank account, including what information you need to provide.
Transfer a corporate investment account to Wealthsimple
You can also transfer a brokerage account to Wealthsimple to fund your Business account. Learn more about transferring an account to Wealthsimple.
Frequently asked questions
Can I open a Business account for self-directed investing?
Self-directed Business accounts are in development. They aren't widely available to all clients yet.
How do I know who to list as a director and who to list as an owner for my business?
A director is a person on the board of directors whose responsibilities include monitoring the firm's activities and shaping the firm's strategy to protect shareholder interests. An owner is a shareholder that owns 10% or more of the business.
I have a business in Quebec but I only have an NEQ (provincial number) and not an NE (federal number). Can I still open an account?
We need a federal Business Number to open a Business account. If you do not have a federal business number, we can't open a Business account for you.
Why do I have to fill out the W-8BEN-E form?
My business is Canadian registered, and the account I’m opening is a CAD account. Why does it have anything to do with the IRS?
While your business is Canadian registered and the account is in CAD, our managed portfolios may include symbols that are trading on a U.S. stock exchange. Therefore your investing accounts can receive U.S.-sourced dividends and interests. The W-8BEN-E form is a U.S. IRS-mandated tax treaty claim form necessary for us to apply the reduced withholding tax rate on your U.S.-sourced income thanks to the tax treaty between the U.S. and Canada. Without this form, your investments will earn less because we’ll have to double the tax rate on U.S.-sourced income to your accounts.
Why is my corporation referred to as a “foreign entity” when it’s a Canadian-registered company?
Your corporation is referred to as a “non-financial foreign entity” or NFFE on the W-8BEN-E form, because this is a U.S. government-prescribed form for their Internal Revenue Service, and is used by any non-U.S. corporation opening an account with a financial institution.
What’s an active non-financial foreign entity (NFFE)? What’s a passive NFFE?
In general, the corporation is an active NFFE if less than 50% of the NFFE’s gross income for the preceding fiscal period is passive income and less than 50% of the assets held by the NFFE during the preceding fiscal period are assets that produce or are held for the production of passive income. If the company does not meet the above Active NFFE definition, it most likely derives its gross income passively. Many holdings co. are Passive NFFE.
If I already have a business account with Wealthsimple, can I open a new business account under the same corporation?
Yes. After you select + Add an account from the Home page, select an existing corporation from the list instead of selecting Create a new business. Follow the on-screen prompts.
If you’re the sole owner/director of your business, we’ll prompt you to sign the new account agreement. If there are other people linked to your business, all parties (yourself included) can expect to receive a new account application form (NAAF) via DocuSign within a few days.
Once the new account agreement/NAAF is signed, the new account will be ready to use.
I have a Wealthsimple profile for my personal accounts. Can I use a different email to create a new profile just for my business account(s)?
No. You can’t use different emails to create new user profiles because it will cause an identity conflict. We are not able to support independent business profiles at this time. All of your businesses must be onboarded under your existing Wealthsimple profile.
Can I have a USD Business account?
Yes, but it only comes as a Managed account. You need to first complete the corporation onboarding process and have a CAD Business account open. Then, you can contact us to have a USD account created for the same corporation.
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