# Company paperwork

Which documents prove the business is real, which are required, and why the list is different in Canada and the United States.

Updated: 2026-09-12

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One step asks for proof that the company exists and is registered. What that means depends
entirely on where it is registered, so the list changes with the country you chose on the first
step.

## In Canada

- **Articles of Incorporation** — required. Federal, from Corporations Canada, or provincial.
  Either is fine.
- **Business Number (BN) confirmation** — required. Your CRA business number letter, or a master
  business licence.
- **A voided cheque or bank letter** — optional, and worth doing. It confirms the account we
  would fund into.

## In the United States

- **Articles of Incorporation or Certificate of Formation** — required. Whatever your state
  issued when the business was registered.
- **EIN confirmation** — required. The IRS letter confirming your federal tax ID: CP-575, or a
  147C if you have had to ask for a replacement.
- **A voided cheque or bank letter** — optional, same reason.

## On the web

The list itself is the control. Click the document you have and a drawer opens that already knows
what it is — there is nothing to choose from a dropdown, because the row you clicked said it.

<Shot src="step-incorporation" alt="The company paperwork step listing articles of incorporation, business number confirmation, and an optional voided cheque, each with an Upload action." />

<Shot src="step-incorporation-drawer" alt="The upload drawer for articles of incorporation, showing the hint about what the document is and a drop zone accepting a PDF or a photo up to ten megabytes." />

A green tick and the filename appear on the row once it is attached. **Replace** where **Upload**
was means we have it.

Unlike the statements step, you can leave this one and come back — but the application is not
complete without the required ones, and the review step will tell you so.

## In the app

The company paperwork step carries the same list, from the same server, in the same order. Tap
the row for the document you have, then **Choose a file** for something in Files, or the button
beside it to pick a photograph out of your library.

There is no camera inside Spark: take the picture in the Camera app first — a certificate in a
folder in the cabinet is best answered with a photograph rather than with an afternoon at a
scanner — and then pick it here.

You can also send these outside the application, from the **Documents** tab, choosing *Articles
of incorporation* or the equivalent from the list.

<Shot src="ios-documents" phone alt="The Documents tab of the Spark app, with a what-is-it picker, a which-application picker, a choose a file button and a photo library button." />

## Photographs are fine here

Unlike bank statements, these documents can be photographed. A clear picture of the whole page,
in reasonable light, with the text readable — up to ten megabytes each. See
[file types and sizes](/help/file-types-and-sizes).