BC's Transparency Register: What's Required Today — and the Public Filing That's Coming

British Columbia became the first Canadian jurisdiction to require private companies to maintain a transparency register — a record of individuals who hold significant control over the corporation. Since October 1, 2020, all private BC companies incorporated under the Business Corporations Act (BCBCA) have been required to keep this register internally, in their own records office.

BC has also enacted amendments — the Business Corporations Amendment Act, 2023 (Bill 20) — that will move the transparency register to a public registry filed online, add new fields (including social insurance numbers), tighten the update deadline from 30 days to 15, and require annual filings. These are the most significant changes to BC corporate-transparency rules in years. Important: as of mid-2026 these amendments are not yet in force — they depend on coming-into-force orders and regulations still to be made. Government signalling has moved from “by 2025” to an expected launch in 2026, and the official transparency-register guidance still describes only the internal register. This article separates what applies today from what is coming once the amendments take effect.

This overview reflects current BC legislation and public commentary as of mid-2026. The public-registry changes described below come from amendments that are enacted but not yet brought into force, and key details — the exact go-live date, the annual filing period, and what will be publicly searchable — are still to be set by regulation. Timelines have already slipped once. Always confirm your specific obligations with a BC corporate lawyer. This is general information, not legal advice.

What is significant control?

An individual is a significant individual with control over a company if they:

1. Own or control 25% or more of the voting shares, directly or indirectly
2. Own or control 25% or more of shares by fair market value, directly or indirectly
3. Have the right or ability to appoint or remove the majority of directors
4. Have significant influence or control over the company in any other way

Indirect control is the tricky part. If an individual owns 50% of a holding company, which in turn owns 60% of your BC company, that individual controls 30% of your company indirectly — and must be recorded.

What you must record today

For each significant individual, the current rules require you to record:

• Full legal name
• Date of birth
• Last known address (residential)
• Citizenship(s)
• Date they became/ceased to be a significant individual
• A description of how they exercise significant control (e.g., “owns 40% of Class A voting shares”)
• Whether the information has been confirmed, and when

You must also record whether you have been unable to identify any significant individuals after taking reasonable steps — that itself is a required entry. Today this register is held in your records office and is not accessible to the public.

Who does this apply to?

All private companies incorporated under the BCBCA must maintain a transparency register. This includes:

• Single-founder companies where the founder holds 100% of shares (they are the significant individual)
• Holding companies
• Family-owned businesses
• Venture-backed startups (until they become reporting issuers)

Public companies (reporting issuers) and wholly-owned subsidiaries of reporting issuers are exempt. (Some additional categories may be exempted; check the legislation or a lawyer for edge cases.)

When must it be updated — today

Under the current rules, you must update the register within 30 days of becoming aware of any new or different information, including:

• Becoming aware that someone has become a significant individual
• Becoming aware that a significant individual has ceased to qualify
• Receiving confirmed information from a significant individual

It is good practice to request confirmation from each significant individual at least once a year so your register stays accurate.

What’s coming once the amendments are in force

The Business Corporations Amendment Act, 2023 will change the regime substantially — once it is brought into force (expected in 2026, based on Ministry of Finance signalling and legal commentary, but not yet operative as of mid-2026). Under the new rules, private BC companies will be required to:

• File transparency-register information online with the BC Business Registry, in addition to keeping the internal register, in a public registry.
• Update within 15 days (down from 30) of becoming aware of new or different information.
• Make an initial filing within six months of incorporation, amalgamation, restoration, or continuation into BC.
• File on an annual basis, within a period still to be prescribed by regulation.

Additional fields the amendments add for each significant individual:

• Social insurance number (if the individual has one)
• Individual tax number / CRA tax number (if any — e.g., for those without a SIN)
• A statement if the significant individual is incapable of managing their own affairs

The public registry is expected to be searchable by members of the public, but BC is still finalizing exactly what will be searchable and which fields will be visible (for example, whether searches are by company name), and is expected to include safety-based suppression options. None of these new obligations applies until the amendments are in force — until then, the current internal-register rules above are what govern.

What are the penalties?

Failing to take reasonable steps to maintain an accurate transparency register, or knowingly providing false, misleading, or incomplete information, is an offence under the BCBCA. Both the company and individuals — including directors, officers, and shareholders — can be liable, and directors and officers can face personal liability where they authorize, permit, or acquiesce in non-compliance. Commentary on the BCBCA’s penalty provisions cites fines of up to $50,000 for individuals and up to $100,000 for companies. The register can also be requested by law enforcement and certain regulatory and taxation authorities.

How BC compares to federal and Ontario rules

The federal Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA) introduced individuals with significant control (ISC) requirements for federal private corporations in 2019, and moved to public filing with Corporations Canada in 2024 — searchable by corporation name — with raised penalties for contraventions. Ontario introduced closely aligned beneficial-ownership requirements in its 2023 amendments to the Business Corporations Act (Ontario), with director and officer exposure layered on top of corporation-level penalties. The concepts are very similar across jurisdictions, but the specific thresholds, fields, deadlines, and filing mechanics differ — they are not identical, so confirm the rules for the statute your company is incorporated under.

Is your transparency register current?

Most BC companies reading this either don’t have a transparency register or have one that hasn’t been updated in the past year. Under today’s rules, both are non-compliant — and when the public-filing amendments take effect, an out-of-date register becomes a public-facing problem, not just an internal one.

Corpbook identifies every shareholder who meets the 25% threshold, walks you through collecting the required information, generates secure shareholder questionnaires, flags inconsistencies between the transparency register and your underlying director and shareholder records, and reminds you of confirmation deadlines so you can act before they slip. That keeps you compliant with today’s internal-register rules and ready to file the moment the public registry goes live.

Get your transparency register set up in an afternoon, not a quarter.