College Blog
Thinking about incorporating your physiotherapy practice? In this blog post, we go over some essential things you should know, including a key step you can’t skip – registering your professional corporation with the College.
In Ontario, regulated health professionals, including physiotherapists, have the option of incorporating their practice as a professional corporation and benefitting from corporate tax rates.
According to College records, there are currently 546 physiotherapy professional corporations active across Ontario.
The rules for health professional corporations are set out in provincial legislation.
If you choose to form a professional corporation, you must first incorporate with the Ontario Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement and then apply to the College for a Certificate of Authorization for a Health Profession Corporation.
Visit the College’s Professional Corporations page for detailed instructions.
It’s important to note that all professional corporations are legally required to have a certificate of authorization issued by the College in order to practice. The certificate must be renewed annually.
Operating your practice as a corporation without being registered with the College is illegal.
Let’s go over some common questions the College gets about professional corporations.
Should I incorporate my practice?
The answer will depend on a variety of factors, including the nature of your practice and your financial circumstances.
Generally, corporations are taxed at a lower rate than individuals. However, the restricted ownership structure of professional corporations may negate some of these benefits.
That’s why we recommend any physiotherapist interested in incorporating their practice first talk to a lawyer or accountant. A professional who’s well-versed in the legal and financial aspects of corporations can help you decide whether it’s the right option for you.
Please note, the College cannot give legal or business advice to registrants.
Who can be a shareholder, officer or director of a professional corporation?
Only members of the same profession can be shareholders, officers or directors of a professional corporation.
For example, for a physiotherapy professional corporation, all the shareholders, officers and/or directors must be physiotherapists.
What about practice management corporations? How are those different than professional corporations?
Some physiotherapists may choose to create a practice management corporation to do things like lease space for a clinic, buy equipment or pay administrative employees. Practice management corporations are not permitted to practice any regulated health profession, including physiotherapy.
In contrast to professional corporations, the ownership rules for practice management corporations are more relaxed. Members of different health professions, non-health professionals and even family members can be shareholders as well as officers or directors. Because these corporations are not permitted to practice a regulated health profession, they are not required to register with the college or colleges of their shareholders.
Why is the College charging professional corporations to register and obtain certificates of authorization? Since the owners and shareholders of professional corporations have to be College registrants anyway, doesn’t it mean we are paying twice?
The College charges professional corporations a separate fee because a professional corporation is a different legal entity than the individual physiotherapists who own it. Even though you’re already a registrant of the College, your corporation has its own legal status and needs its own registration.
Additionally, the government requires colleges to record and monitor substantial amounts of information about professional corporations. This includes carefully reviewing applications and ongoing monitoring to ensure compliance – both of which require staff time and a robust data management system. It wouldn’t be fair to make registrants who don’t have professional corporations pay for these extra costs. That’s why there’s a separate fee for corporations, so only those who have professional corporations cover the expenses.
Questions?
Visit the Professional Corporations section of our website to learn more and don’t hesitate to reach out to the College’s Registration Team if you have questions. You can reach them at registration@collegept.org or 1-800-583-5885 ext. 222.
Share Your Thoughts