In this article:
Overview
If you are the owner or director of an eligible business, you can open a Corporate account with Wealthsimple. We offer the following corporate account options:
Self-directed investing
A trading account where you can invest in the stocks and ETFs of your choosing.
Adding and withdrawing funds
You can add or withdraw funds between a self-directed Corporate account and the account types below:
- Individual and joint non-registered accounts
- Individual and joint chequing accounts
- Another Corporate account of any type within the same corporation
Account limitations
Please consider the limitations of a self-directed Corporate account before opening one:
- You can't trade options
- You can't open a Corporate 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 Corporate portfolio, we'll invest your funds on your behalf in a customizable portfolio of low-fee exchange-traded funds.
Save
A Corporate save account is a good choice when you need to access your funds quickly. Learn more about Corporate save account interest rates.
Eligibility criteria
To open a Wealthsimple corporate 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.
How to open a Corporate account
If you already have a Wealthsimple profile, please don't create a new profile only for your Corporate account. This causes a technical issue that we must resolve. You must open a Corporate 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.
To open a Corporate account:
- Log in to the Wealthsimple app
- From the Home tab, scroll down and tap Add an account
- Tap Open a new account
- Choose Corporate investing or Corporate savings
- Follow the prompts to open a corporate account
- Log in to your Wealthsimple profile
- Select + Add an account from the Home tab
- Select the Corporate tab
- Choose Corporate investing or Savings
- Follow the prompts to open a corporate account
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 save) 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 Corporate account.
Two-Owner corporate accounts
To start a transfer for a two-owner corporate account, you'll need to contact our support team.
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 Corporate account. If you do not have a federal business number, we can't open a Corporate 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 Corporate account?
Yes, you can have a self-directed USD Corporate account.
What is the current coverage for my Corporate accounts?
CDIC and CIPF cover all general accounts, including your Corporate accounts.
- CDIC covers your Corporate save account up to $100,000.
- CIPF covers managed and self-directed Corporate accounts up to $1,000,000 per account.
For more information, see how we keep your money safe.
How will separating personal and corporate accounts affect my instant funding availability?
You’ll maintain your instant funding availability. However, we’ll now calculate it separately for personal and corporate accounts instead of pooling them together.
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