Not a brokerage
The corporation itself isn't licensed and can't trade in real estate or hold itself out as a brokerage, it exists to receive the registrant's trade income.
For incorporated real estate professionals
Personal Real Estate Corporations, explained.
A PREC lets a licensed real estate salesperson or broker receive their trade income through a personal corporation. The programs are set province by province, but they share a common shape. Start with your province.
A privilege with conditions attached.
A number of Canadian provinces let a licensed real estate salesperson or broker earn their trade income through a corporation they control, rather than receiving it personally. Done right, it can open room for tax and estate planning your accountant will walk you through, but the corporation only keeps that status while it meets the conditions set by its province's real estate legislation and regulator.
The gap most people never check is the paperwork itself: whether the articles of incorporation actually lock those conditions in, or merely leave compliance resting on how the company happens to behave. Non-compliant articles can mean non-compliant tax returns, which means potential for CRA audit.
Ontario
Does one of these sound like you?
Different reasons articles drift from what a PREC needs. Each page explains the situation; the free Health Check covers all of them.
Across every province that permits one
What PREC programs tend to have in common.
The details vary by province, this page never substitutes for the specific rules in force where you practice, but most PREC programs share the same basic shape.
Control stays with the registrant
The licensed registrant is typically the sole (or controlling) director and the controlling voting shareholder, so control of the corporation can't be separated from the person actually licensed to trade.
Limited family shareholding
Non-voting shares are often permitted for eligible family members, subject to conditions set by the province. Dividends paid to family members are generally caught by the federal tax on split income (TOSI) rules and taxed at the top marginal rate unless an exclusion applies, so income splitting needs its own tax advice.
Capital Toolkit is an automated service. It provides general information, not legal, tax or accounting advice, and it does not replace your own lawyer or accountant. Have a qualified professional review any document before you rely on it, sign it or file it.
Confirm the current conditions for your own province with a qualified lawyer and CPA before you incorporate or rely on any of the above.
Where we cover PREC today
Provinces we currently support.
Each province gets its own page with the specific rules and a dedicated tool. Ontario is live today; more are on the way.
Live
Ontario
The rules, the free Articles Health Check tool, and the path from a free rating to protected articles.
More provinces
We're building out coverage for other provinces that permit PREC-style programs. Check back here as each one goes live.
Questions people ask first.
Start with your province.
Ontario is live today, free, and takes two minutes in the browser, no account required.