BC transparency register software that keeps you compliant.
Every private BC company has to know — and document — who really controls it. Corpbook turns the transparency register from an annual scramble into a maintained record: identify significant individuals, collect their details securely, and stay inside the update window — and be ready for the public-filing changes BC has already enacted.
A 20-minute review · No obligation · Not legal advice
What BC’s transparency register actually requires.
Since October 2020, BC private companies must keep an internal register of their significant individuals — and most of the difficulty is in getting these things right.
Who is a significant individual
Anyone who, directly or indirectly, owns or controls 25% or more of the shares or votes — or who has the right to elect or remove a majority of directors. Joint and indirect holdings count, which is where most registers go wrong.
What you must record
Full name, date of birth, last-known address, citizenship and residency for tax purposes, the date they became (and ceased to be) significant, and a description of how control is held.
The SIN field is coming
BC’s enacted (not-yet-in-force) amendments will add each significant individual’s SIN — or ITN where there is no SIN — to the register. Corpbook is building this in: when it’s required, you’ll be able to collect SIN/ITN as a sealed field (encrypted so even Corpbook can’t read it), with an opt-in for companies whose advisors recommend collecting it ahead of the deadline.
Reasonable steps
You must take reasonable steps at least once a year to confirm the information is accurate, complete, and up to date — and be able to show you took them.
The two deadlines that catch companies out.
The update window — 30 days today, 15 soon: when control changes or you learn of new information, the register has to be updated. Under the current rules that window is 30 days. BC’s enacted Business Corporations Amendment Act, 2023 will tighten it to 15 days — but those amendments are not yet in force (as of mid-2026, expected in 2026). Financings, transfers, and estate changes all start that clock, and the window is about to get shorter, so a maintained register beats a once-a-year scramble.
The annual confirmation: at least once a year you must take reasonable steps to confirm the register is accurate — and be able to demonstrate you did. Corpbook tracks both, reminds you, and logs the confirmation when it happens.
The same amendments will also require filing the register in a public online registry with new fields (including SINs). Corpbook is being built to file the day that goes live; until then the internal-register rules above are what apply.
From shareholder data to a compliant register.
Corpbook works from the records you already keep, so the transparency register stays connected to the rest of your minute book instead of living in its own spreadsheet.
Identify significant individuals
Corpbook reads your shareholder and share-class data and surfaces who likely meets the 25% control thresholds — including indirect and combined holdings you might otherwise miss.
Collect details securely
Send each individual a secure questionnaire instead of emailing a form. Citizenship, residency, and address land directly in a permissioned, access-controlled record — encrypted in transit (TLS) and at the storage layer — and a sealed SIN/ITN field (designed so even Corpbook can’t read it) is coming for when BC requires it.
Flag inconsistencies
Missing fields, stale entries, and individuals who no longer meet the threshold are flagged — so gaps surface before a regulator or buyer finds them.
Schedule confirmations
The annual reasonable-steps review and the update window (30 days today, 15 once the amendments are in force) are tracked for you, with reminders — not left to a date in someone’s head.
Significant-individual data is sensitive. Treat it that way.
Dates of birth and residency do not belong in a shared drive. Corpbook encrypts the register in transit (TLS) and at the storage layer, scopes access to the people who need it with row-level access controls, and records every view and edit in an append-only audit log. When the SIN/ITN field arrives, it will go further still: sealed — designed so that even Corpbook’s operators cannot read it.
And your register stays in Canada: Corpbook’s records infrastructure is hosted in Canada and governed by Canadian law, so significant-individual data stays within Canadian jurisdiction rather than on U.S. infrastructure subject to foreign data-access regimes.
BC transparency register questions.
- Who has to keep a transparency register in BC?
- Most private companies incorporated under BC’s Business Corporations Act must maintain a transparency register of their significant individuals. Public companies and certain other entities are exempt. If you are a privately held BC company, assume the requirement applies and confirm specifics with your lawyer.
- How quickly must the register be updated?
- Today, you must update the transparency register within 30 days of becoming aware of new or changed information about a significant individual (or identifying a new one). BC has enacted amendments — the Business Corporations Amendment Act, 2023 — that will tighten this to 15 days, but as of mid-2026 those amendments are not yet in force. Corpbook tracks the window and reminds you under either rule, so updates are not missed.
- Is the BC transparency register public?
- Not today. The register is currently kept internally by the company and made available only to specified authorities (such as law enforcement and tax authorities) on request — it is not published openly. BC has enacted amendments to introduce a public, online registry filed with the BC Business Registry, but they are not yet in force (signalling has moved from 2025 to 2026, and the official government guidance still describes the internal register). When that changes, an out-of-date register becomes a public-facing problem — so accuracy matters now. This is general information, not legal advice.
For the legal detail and penalties, read our deep dive on BC’s transparency register.
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