The CRA business number, or BN, is the nine-digit identifier the Canada Revenue Agency uses for your business across the federal tax system. If you are going to collect GST/HST, run payroll, or pay corporate tax, you will need one. Here is how to get a CRA business number without overthinking it.
What the business number is
The BN is a single nine-digit root that all your CRA program accounts hang off. The CRA adds a two-letter code and four digits for each account type: RT for GST/HST, RP for payroll, RC for corporate income tax, and RM for import/export. One business, one core number, several program accounts. It is not the same as your corporation number, which comes from the registry that incorporated you.
When you need a business number
- You register for GST/HST (required once you pass the $30,000 small-supplier threshold, optional before that).
- You hire employees and need a payroll account.
- You incorporate, federally or provincially, and need to file corporate income tax.
- You import or export commercial goods.
If none of these apply yet, a sole proprietor operating under their own name may not need a BN at all. You get one the moment you open your first program account.
How to get a business number
There are a few routes, and which one fits depends on how you are set up:
- Online through the CRA's Business Registration Online. This is the standard route and can open your BN plus your first program account in one sitting.
- By phone through the CRA business enquiries line, if you would rather register with a person.
- By mail or fax using Form RC1, the slow option.
- Automatically when you incorporate. If you incorporate federally through Corporations Canada, a business number is usually generated and sent to the CRA for you.
When you register, the CRA asks for basic details: your legal name or corporation's name, the business activity, and which program accounts you want to open.
After you have it
Once you have your BN, put it on the documents that need it (GST/HST invoices, payroll remittances, corporate filings) and keep it somewhere easy to find. You will use it any time you deal with the CRA.
When you incorporate with Korporex, your CRA business number and the tax accounts you need are set up alongside your articles and minute book, so everything is connected from day one.