SEC incorporation

Before your company can register for taxes, get permits, or open a bank account, it has to exist. In the Philippines, a corporation is born when the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approves its registration and issues a Certificate of Incorporation.

This is the step Korp was built around. Here's what it actually involves.

Incorporation is Korp's core service, fully built into your dashboard today — you submit your request, sign electronically, and track every stage live. The incorporation process walks through it stage by stage.

What SEC incorporation actually does#

SEC registration is what turns your business idea into a legal entity:

• Your company gains legal personality — it can own property, sign contracts, and do business in its own name
• Your company name is registered and protected nationally
• Your liability as a shareholder is limited to your investment in the company
• You receive the Certificate of Incorporation — the document every other registration, bank, and counterparty will ask for first

Without it, there is no company: just individuals doing business in their own names, with their personal assets on the line.

When it happens in the sequence#

SEC incorporation comes first — everything else depends on it:

1. SEC — your company legally exists.
2. BIR — your company is registered as a taxpayer.
3. LGU — your company is authorized to operate at its address.

The BIR won't register a company that doesn't exist yet, and the LGU wants both before finalizing your permit. That's why the SEC step sets the pace for your whole setup.

What you'll need#

Unlike the BIR and LGU steps, you don't collect documents for this one — we draft them from your answers. What you need is information:

• Company name — ideally with alternatives, in case your first choice is taken or too similar to an existing registration
• Incorporators and directors — names, details, and shareholdings. Each needs their own personal TIN; Filipinos usually have one already, and we sort out foreign incorporators' TINs early
• Share structure and capital — authorized capital, subscriptions, and who owns what
• Registered address — a Philippine address for your SEC filings. No office yet? A virtual office covers it
• Business purpose — what your company will actually do, which becomes the purpose clause of your Articles of Incorporation
• Officers — including a Corporate Secretary, who must be a resident Filipino citizen. We provide this role as part of your setup

The registration steps#

The SEC side of the process breaks down like this:

1. Name verification and reservation#

Your proposed name is checked against the SEC registry and reserved. Names that are identical or confusingly similar to existing registrations are rejected, which is why alternatives help.

2. Articles of Incorporation and By-laws#

The company's founding documents are drafted: who the incorporators are, the share structure, the business purpose, and how the company will govern itself.

3. Signing#

For most companies this is fully electronic — you authenticate your documents online, with no printing or notarization. A few company types still require wet signatures on paper.

4. Filing and SEC review#

The application is submitted and the SEC examines it. If the SEC asks for corrections, the application is revised and resubmitted.

5. Fee assessment and payment#

Once the application qualifies, the SEC issues its official fee assessment. The fees scale with your capital structure. All SEC fees are included in your Korp package — we settle them on your behalf, and you're never asked to pay the SEC directly.

6. Certificate of Incorporation#

The SEC issues a digitally signed Certificate of Incorporation, with the same legal validity as a paper original. Your company now legally exists. (Lending companies, financing companies, and foreign corporations follow an older paper track with a hard-copy submission step after this.)

What you're signing up for after registration#

Incorporation creates ongoing obligations to the SEC:

The GIS and related filings are exactly what the Corporate Secretary handles — with Korp, that's covered from day one.

A note on timing and cost#

How fast the SEC step moves depends mostly on the processing option you choose — from a few days on rush processing to a few weeks on the regular track — and on how quickly documents get signed on your side.

On cost: SEC fees scale with your capital structure rather than being flat, but with Korp that variability isn't your problem — every SEC fee is included in your package, settled by us as part of the process.

What you'll see in your dashboard#

No preview needed here — this is the part of Korp that's fully live. From the moment you submit, your dashboard tracks the whole journey with a progress bar and status pills:

Incorporation progress

SEC review

73%·08/11

Preparation

1. Request received
2. Review in progress
3. Package confirmed
4. Name verification
5. Documents in preparation
6. Awaiting signature

SEC registration

1. Filed with SEC
2. 08SEC review
3. 09Awaiting SEC payment
4. 10Digital certificate issued
5. 11Company registered

Every status is explained in the request status guide, and the incorporation process walks through the journey stage by stage.