Ontario Government Introduces The Ideas For The Future Act

On September 23, the Ontario government released the Ideas for the Future Act, 2008,¹ fulfilling a promise included in the 2008 Ontario Budget to provide a 10-year Ontario corporate tax holiday² for new corporations that commercialize intellectual property in certain new growth areas developed in conjunction with educational institutions or research institutes.

To qualify for the so-called "Ontario Tax Exemption for Commercialization" or "OTEC", a new corporation must be incorporated in Canada after March 24, 2008 and before March 25, 2012. The new corporation cannot be related to any other corporation nor be associated with any other corporation³ and the corporation must derive all or substantially all (90%) of its revenue from an eligible commercialization business.