How to Get a CRA Business Number

To get a CRA business number in Canada, most businesses register online through the Canada Revenue Agency's Business Registration Online (BRO) service, which issues the nine-digit business number (BN) and opens program accounts such as GST/HST and payroll in the same session. If BRO is not available to you, Form RC1 can be mailed to your tax centre instead. Corporations incorporated federally or in Ontario do not need to apply at all: the BN and the corporation income tax account are issued as part of the incorporation. A sole proprietor only needs a BN when registering for a CRA program account.

This guide covers what the business number is, how program accounts attach to it, who receives one automatically, how to register, what information the CRA asks for, and how to find a BN you have misplaced.

What the business number is

The CRA describes the business number as a standard identifier for a business or legal entity. It is nine digits long, and each business or legal entity has only one. Provincial, municipal and other federal programs also use the BN to identify you, so it ends up on far more than tax forms.

The BN on its own is just the root. When you register for a CRA program, the CRA adds a two-letter program identifier and a four-digit reference number to it. Together, those 15 characters form your program account number. A business that collects GST/HST and runs payroll might therefore have 123456789 as its BN, 123456789 RT 0001 as its GST/HST account, and 123456789 RP 0001 as its payroll account. The reference number lets a business hold more than one account of the same type, for example separate payroll accounts for separate divisions.

The BN is not the same thing as your corporation number, which comes from the registry that incorporated you. The difference is explained further down.

The main CRA program accounts

These are the program accounts most small and mid-sized businesses deal with:

Other, more specialized accounts exist as well, including excise duty (RD), excise tax and special levies (RE), insurance premium tax (RN), Luxury Tax (LT) and Underused Housing Tax (RU). Each program account has its own registration and reporting requirements, separate from the BN itself.

When you need a business number

Not every business needs a BN. According to the CRA, a business needs one in two situations: when it needs a GST/HST, payroll or other CRA program account, and when it incorporates. In practice, that means you need a BN when:

• You register for GST/HST, whether because you are required to or because you register voluntarily.
• You hire employees, or otherwise pay amounts that require payroll deductions, and need a payroll account.
• You incorporate, federally or provincially, and the corporation has to file corporate income tax.
• You need to file certain information returns, such as T5 slips for dividends paid.
• You plan to bid on federal government contracts, since a CRA BN is required before registering for a Procurement Business Number.

An unincorporated business, such as a sole proprietorship, only needs a BN when it registers for a CRA program account. A sole proprietor who operates below the GST/HST small supplier threshold, has no employees and has no other program account obligation may operate for some time without one. The proprietor's business income is reported on their personal T1 return using their Social Insurance Number. Registering a business name in Ontario does not create a BN either: the Ontario Business Identification Number (BIN) issued on a sole proprietorship registration is a different number, and the CRA does not accept it in place of a BN.

Corporations that get a BN automatically

For corporations, the BN usually arrives without a separate application. The CRA confirms that once a federal incorporation through Corporations Canada is approved, the corporation receives a business number and its corporation income tax (RC) program account. There is no separate CRA registration for the RC account.

The same is true for corporations incorporated in Ontario. The CRA lists eight provinces where registering or incorporating a business also produces a BN: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan. A corporation incorporated in one of those provinces also receives its RC account as part of the process. Businesses registered in Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Quebec or Yukon do not receive a BN from the provincial or territorial registry and must register for one separately with the CRA.

What incorporation does not do is open your other accounts. If the new corporation needs to collect GST/HST or run payroll, those accounts are added to the existing BN afterward, usually through Business Registration Online. If you are comparing the two incorporation routes, the federal vs provincial incorporation guide sets out how they differ beyond the BN.

A corporation is a separate legal entity from its owner, so it is registered under its own BN. A sole proprietor who later incorporates does not carry their existing BN over to the corporation; the CRA lists changes to the legal ownership or the structure of a business among the situations that may require a new BN.

How to register for a business number

If you already have a BN, you do not register for a new one. The CRA allows only one BN per business or legal entity, and any new program accounts are added to the BN you already have. For everyone else, there are two routes for Canadian residents.

Online through Business Registration Online (BRO)

The CRA describes BRO as the fastest and easiest way to get a BN. It lets you register for the BN and several program accounts at the same time, including GST/HST (outside Quebec), payroll deductions, corporation income tax, information returns and registered charity accounts. The steps are:

• Sign in to your CRA account. You need a CRA account to use BRO, and you cannot register for one if you have not filed your taxes or if enhanced protection is enabled on your account.
• From the Welcome page, add a business account and choose to register a business.
• Enter the owner and business information (see the checklist below) and select the program accounts you want to open.
• Save or print your BN and program account numbers at the end of the session. The CRA states that the BN will not be sent to you.

A few practical limits apply. A BRO session times out after 10 minutes of inactivity and you cannot save a partial registration, so it helps to have everything ready first. BRO is available daily except between 3 am and 6 am Eastern time. It cannot be used to reactivate a closed program account, to register a business owned by another business (for example, a partnership with a corporate partner), to register a business whose owner or director has died, or to register a Canadian business with only non-resident owners. Ontario and Nova Scotia residents can transfer directly from BRO to the provincial registration site when they finish.

By mail with Form RC1

If you cannot complete the registration online, the CRA requires you to mail a form. Form RC1, Request for a Business Number and Certain Program Accounts, lets you register for a BN together with GST/HST, payroll deductions, corporation income tax, registered charity and information returns accounts on one form. You complete the sections you need and send the form to your tax centre. RC1 cannot be used for the Underused Housing Tax or Luxury Tax accounts. Mail is slower than BRO, so most applicants use it only when BRO is not an option, for example when BRO does not accept their postal code.

Information to have ready

The CRA publishes a checklist of what you may be asked for when registering. For most businesses it includes:

• The name, title and phone number of each owner, and each owner's Social Insurance Number.
• The legal name of the business and any operating name.
• The mailing address and the physical business address.
• The type of business: sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, trust or another form.
• A description of the major business activity, and the main products or services with an estimated percentage of revenue for each.
• For a corporation, the incorporation date, jurisdiction and certificate number.
• Your existing BN, if you already have one.

Each program account also has its own questions. A GST/HST registration may ask for annual worldwide and domestic taxable sales, the effective date of registration, the fiscal year-end and the reporting period. A payroll registration may ask for the number of employees, expected annual salaries, the date employees receive their first wages and the pay frequency.

GST/HST and the $30,000 small supplier rule

For most businesses, GST/HST is the account that first triggers the need for a BN. A business is a small supplier, and does not have to register, as long as its taxable supplies do not exceed $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters. Small suppliers can still choose to register voluntarily. Once the threshold is crossed, the timing depends on how it happens:

• If you exceed $30,000 in a single calendar quarter, you stop being a small supplier immediately. You must register, your effective date of registration is no later than the day of the supply that took you over $30,000, and you charge GST/HST on that supply.
• If you exceed $30,000 over the previous four (or fewer) consecutive calendar quarters, but not in a single quarter, you stop being a small supplier at the end of the month following the quarter in which you exceeded $30,000. Your effective date of registration is no later than the day of your first supply after that.

Some businesses, including taxi and ride-sharing drivers, must register for GST/HST regardless of the threshold. The guide to getting a GST/HST number in Ontario walks through that registration in more detail, and the guide on how to confirm a GST/HST number covers checking a supplier's number.

Payroll accounts when you hire

An employer, including a corporation that pays a salary to its owner-manager, needs a payroll (RP) account. The CRA requires registration before the first remittance due date, which is generally the 15th day of the month following the month in which you began withholding deductions from an employee's pay. For example, if you hire someone on March 11 and pay them on March 25, the first remittance is due April 15. Registering late does not delay the obligation: deductions still have to be calculated and remitted by the due date, and penalties may be assessed if they are not. Owners deciding how to pay themselves often weigh this against dividends, which the salary vs dividends guide compares; an accountant can advise on the right mix for a particular situation.

Business number vs corporation numbers

A corporation ends up with at least two numbers from two different governments, and they are not interchangeable:

The corporation number appears on your certificate of incorporation and is what you use when filing annual returns with the registry. The BN is what the CRA, your bank and your payroll provider will ask for. The full comparison is in business number vs corporation number.

How to find a lost business number

If you know you have a BN but cannot locate it, the CRA suggests working through these options in order:

• Check your records: letters or notices from the CRA, and any confirmation you saved or printed at the end of a BRO session.
• Sign in to your CRA account. If My Business Account has been added, the BN appears on the Welcome page. If you registered through your province, the provincial online account may show it too.
• Search an online business registry. Corporations Canada shows BNs for federal corporations, the Ontario Business Registry covers Ontario businesses (information may take two business days to appear after registration, and fees may apply for some services), and Canada's Business Registries covers federal corporations and corporations in certain provinces.
• Call the CRA business enquiries line at 1-800-959-5525, Monday to Friday, 8 am to 8 pm Eastern time. You may need to confirm details you entered during registration.

Note that a BN may also have been created if you started a BRO registration and the session timed out. Before registering again, it is worth checking whether that partial session left you with a number, since a business can only have one.

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. Banks usually ask for it when you open a business bank account, and you will use it every time you deal with the CRA. If the business later changes its legal ownership or structure, check with the CRA whether a new BN is needed.

Getting a business number with Korporex

When you incorporate with Korporex, federally or in Ontario, the business number is issued as part of the incorporation, and Korporex provides it to you once the incorporation is complete. That BN is the base for any GST/HST, payroll or other program accounts the corporation opens later. If you need a BN registered outside of an incorporation, for example for an existing sole proprietorship, see the business number registration service. Korporex is not a law firm or accounting firm; for questions about which tax accounts your business needs, speak with an accountant or lawyer.

Frequently asked questions