A small business corporation is a CCPC that uses all or substantially all of its assets in an active business in Canada, a status required to access the lifetime capital gains exemption.
A small business corporation (SBC) is a specific tax status: a Canadian-controlled private corporation where all or substantially all (generally 90% or more) of the fair market value of its assets is used in an active business carried on primarily in Canada. Meeting this test is the gateway to the lifetime capital gains exemption on a sale of its shares.
Excess passive assets, surplus cash, investments, redundant real estate, can push a company offside the 90% test and disqualify its shares. "Purifying" the corporation by removing those assets, often into a holding company, is common pre-sale planning, but it takes time to satisfy the holding-period rules.
Before selling, a business owner moves $300,000 of surplus investments out of the operating company into a holdco, so that 90%-plus of the opco's assets are used in the active business and its shares qualify for the LCGE.
Our certified accounting firm handles this for businesses and individuals across Canada, at fixed fees with no surprises.
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