Open a Business account

In this article:

Overview

If you're the owner or director of an eligible business, you can open a Business account with Wealthsimple. Currently, we only support corporations as a business structure.

We offer the following Business account options:

Note: Business margin accounts are in beta and aren’t available to all clients yet. In the meantime, you can contact our support team to request access. To participate in the beta, you must already have a self-directed non-registered Business account.

Self-directed investing

A trading account where you can invest in the stocks and ETFs of your choosing.

Note: You can open up to eight self-directed Business accounts.

Adding and withdrawing funds

You can add or withdraw funds between a self-directed Business account and the account types below:

  • Individual and joint non-registered accounts
  • Individual and joint chequing accounts
  • Another Business account of any type within the same corporation

Account limitations

Please consider the limitations of a self-directed Business account before opening one:

  • You can't trade options
  • You can't open a Business margin account
  • You can only open an account for single-director corporations

Wealthsimple Portfolios

Wealthsimple Portfolios are a part of Wealthsimple's automated investing service. With a Business portfolio, we'll invest your funds on your behalf in a customizable portfolio of low-fee exchange-traded funds.

Note: You must contact our support team to open a fully managed Business portfolio.

Save and chequing accounts

We offer two account types for everyday spending and saving:

Eligibility criteria

To open a Wealthsimple Business account, your business must:

  • Be registered in Canada
  • Be a Canadian-controlled private corporation or a charity/association registered with the CRA
  • Have a single layer of ownership for incorporated entities
  • 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.

Before opening an account, please ensure all details with the Business Registry are up to date and accurate.

Note: Wealthsimple doesn't support Business accounts for sole proprietorship or partnership businesses.

How to open a Business account

If you already have a Wealthsimple profile, please don't create a new profile only for your Business account. This causes a technical issue that we must resolve. 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.

Note: Business accounts now use separate information from personal accounts for instant funds availability.

Open a single-owner or director Business account

You can open a single-owner or director account on either the Wealthsimple app or on the web.

Wealthsimple app Web
  1. Log in to the Wealthsimple app.
  2. From the Home tab, scroll down and tap Open an account.
  3. Tap Open a new account.
  4. Tap View all accounts.
  5. Choose Business investing or Business savings.
  6. Follow the prompts to open a Business account.
  1. Log in to your Wealthsimple profile.
  2. Select + Add account from the Home tab.
  3. Select the Business tab.
  4. Choose Business investing or Business savings.
  5. Follow the prompts to open a Business account.

Open a multi-owner or director Business account

You can only begin the process for opening a multi-owner or director Business investing or Business savings account on the Wealthsimple app. Follow these steps:

  1. Log in to the Wealthsimple app.
  2. From the Home tab, scroll down and tap Open an account.
  3. Tap Open a new account.
  4. Tap View all accounts.
  5. Choose Business investing or Business savings.
  6. Follow the prompts.
  7. When asked, enter the information for all directors. This will create a placeholder account in the app.
  8. We'll prompt you in the app to continue on a web browser to complete the onboarding process for all parties.

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 Business 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 save) to your Wealthsimple profile to fund and make withdrawals from your Business 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.

Two-Owner corporate accounts

To start a transfer for a two-owner corporate account, you'll need to contact our support team.

Note: The secondary owner's signature isn't required for the transfer.

Multi-Owner corporate accounts (3 or more owners)

We currently don't support account opening or transfers for self-directed accounts with three or more owners.

Learn more about transferring an account to Wealthsimple.

Frequently asked questions

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.

What’s an active non-financial entity (NFE)? What’s a passive NFE?

In general, the corporation is an active NFE if less than 50% of the NFE’s gross income for the preceding fiscal period is passive income and less than 50% of the assets held by the NFE 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 NFE definition, it most likely derives its gross income passively. Many holdings co. are Passive NFE.

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, you can have a self-directed USD Business account.

Note: You can’t hold USD in a Business Save account.

What is the current coverage for my Business accounts?

CDIC and CIPF cover all general accounts, including your Business accounts.

  • CDIC covers your Business Save account up to $100,000.
  • CIPF covers managed and self-directed Business accounts up to $1,000,000 per account.

For more information, see how we keep your money safe.

How will separating personal and Business accounts affect my instant funding availability?

You’ll maintain your instant funding availability. However, we’ll now calculate it separately for personal and Business accounts instead of pooling them together.

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