What is an Ontario company key?

An Ontario company key serves the same basic purpose as a federal corporation key, for a different registry: it's the credential the Ontario Business Registry (OBR) uses to confirm that whoever is filing on your business's behalf is actually authorized to do so.

You'd have received one when you first registered your business or corporation in Ontario — usually by email. It applies to Ontario-registered sole proprietorships, business names, and corporations alike, and it's required for routine online filings like annual returns and business name renewals through the OBR.

It's easy to confuse with a federal corporation key if your business has any federal-level registration too, but the two are issued by different registries and aren't interchangeable — an Ontario filing needs the Ontario company key, a federal filing needs the Corporations Canada corporation key.

If you've misplaced yours, the Ontario Business Registry can help you recover it directly — it isn't something that can be reconstructed from other business documents.

As with a corporation key, Verluma treats your company key as sensitive: it's collected through our secure client intake form, used only to complete the filing you've asked for, never shown in customer-facing emails, and never logged — visible only to Verluma staff.