CRA business number registration explained

CRA business number registration happens in one online session through Business Registration Online (BRO), and you get your nine-digit number before you log off. That number is the root the Canada Revenue Agency uses to connect every federal tax account you hold, from GST/HST to payroll.

Getting it right the first time keeps you out of amendment forms and backdated tax later. Most businesses can finish the whole process in a single sitting once they've gathered a few personal and business details.

What is a CRA business number?

A CRA business number (BN) is the nine-digit ID the Canada Revenue Agency gives your business so you can file taxes, collect GST/HST, run payroll, and handle other federal tax obligations. It's the root number that ties together every CRA account you hold.

Your BN works alongside your provincial registration, incorporation documents, and municipal business license. It's the single identifier the CRA uses to connect all your federal tax accounts. As your operations grow, you can add program accounts to it, and each one shows up as an extension on the same root number. For example, 123456789 RT0001 is the GST/HST extension and 123456789 RP0001 is the payroll extension.

BRO is the CRA's recommended way to register for a new business number. Paper Form RC1 is still available for situations BRO can't handle, like non-resident registrations or businesses without a Canadian SIN holder on file.

Who needs to register for a CRA business number?

You need a CRA business number once your business takes on any of these federal tax obligations:

• GST/HST collection: Your business exceeds $30,000 in taxable revenue in a single calendar quarter or over four consecutive calendar quarters. Either threshold triggers the requirement on its own.
• Payroll: You're hiring employees and need to remit income tax, CPP contributions, and EI premiums as source deductions.
• Importing or exporting: You're moving commercial goods across the Canadian border.
• Corporate income tax: You've incorporated federally or provincially.
• Other program accounts: You're registering for excise duties, information returns, or other CRA-administered programs.

Sole proprietors who stay under the $30,000 small-supplier threshold and don't hire anyone technically don't need a BN. Most register early anyway, because it's required the moment you cross any of those thresholds, and registering late means backdating problems.

What you need before you start

Gather these personal and business details before you log in to BRO:

• A CRA account: As of November 3, 2025 registration is online only, and as of July 14, 2026, BRO is reached only through your CRA account. Create or verify your account before you gather anything else.
• Your Social Insurance Number (SIN): The CRA uses it to verify your identity.
• Your date of birth and home postal code: These match against your personal CRA records during identity verification.
• An amount from your most recent assessed tax return: The CRA may ask for a figure from a return filed within the last 2 years to confirm your identity.
• Legal business name and operating name: These can be the same or different depending on how you structured your business.
• Business structure: Sole proprietor, partnership, corporation, trust, or other
• Business activity description: A short summary of what your business does. The CRA maps this to a North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code.
• Mailing and physical addresses: If they differ, you'll enter both.
• Fiscal year-end date: Especially relevant for corporations and partnerships
• For corporations: Your incorporation number, jurisdiction, and date of incorporation

If you plan to register for program accounts at the same time, have those details ready too. For GST/HST, that means your expected annual revenue and the effective date you want collection to begin. For payroll, it's the date of your first payroll and the number of employees.

How to plan your CRA business number registration

Follow these steps in order before you open BRO for the smoothest registration. A little upfront planning saves you from amendment forms, backdated tax obligations, and identity verification delays once you're inside the portal.

1. Decide on your business structure: Sole proprietor, partnership, or corporation. Each one affects your taxes, liability, and registration requirements differently. Talk to an accountant or lawyer if you're unsure.
2. Register provincially if required: Corporations need to be incorporated first, either federally or provincially. Sole proprietors and partnerships may need a provincial trade-name registration depending on the province.
3. Create or verify your CRA account: BRO now runs only through a CRA account as of July 14, 2026, so make sure you can sign in before you start. Identity verification can be instant or take days by mail.
4. Gather the BRO inputs: Pull together your SIN, business details, structure, addresses, fiscal year-end, and any program account information before you sit down at the portal.
5. Decide which program accounts to add: If you're going to cross the GST/HST threshold within a few months, register now and pick a future effective date. If you're hiring soon, add payroll in the same session.
6. Run through BRO in one sitting: The session times out if you're idle too long, and partial registrations don't always save cleanly. Block enough time to finish without interruptions.
7. Set up your CRA My Business Account immediately after: That's where you'll manage everything from here on out.

If your business is more complex, with multiple entities, non-resident owners, or several program accounts, consider having an accountant run the BRO session with you. The cost of a 1-hour consultation is usually less than the cost of unwinding a misregistration.

How to register for a business number through BRO

You'll move through identity verification, business details, optional program accounts, and a final review, then get your business number at the end. Since November 3, 2025 new BN and program-account registrations must be done online, and as of July 14, 2026 BRO opens only through your CRA account—which is why signing in is now step one.

1. Sign in to your CRA account

Go to the CRA Sign-in Services page. You can log in with your CRA My Account credentials, a sign-in partner like your bank, or a provincial digital ID.

If you don't have a CRA account yet, you'll need to create one. That means verifying your identity by uploading documents or waiting for a mailed security code.

If you're registering for a corporation, you need to be authorized to act on its behalf, typically as an owner or director. Otherwise, make sure you're listed as a delegate with the CRA.

2. Add a business account to your profile

On your account Welcome page, find the option to add an account and select Business account. From there, select Business Registration Online. This is where the registration session officially starts.

3. Confirm your eligibility and identity

BRO walks you through a short eligibility check based on your business structure and whether you already have a BN. If you do, it'll send you down a different path to add program accounts to your existing number rather than create a new one. BRO confirms your identity using the SIN, date of birth, and postal code you entered, and may ask for an amount from your most recent assessed tax return.

4. Enter your business details

You'll enter the legal name, operating name if different, business structure, addresses, fiscal year-end, and a description of your business activity. The system suggests NAICS codes based on the description, and you pick the one that fits best.

5. Add program accounts (optional but recommended)

This is where you'll save the most time. Adding program accounts now means you won't have to register them separately later. If you know you'll need GST/HST collection, payroll, import-export, or corporate income tax, add them in the same session. Each program account gets its own six-character extension on your business number: a two-letter program code plus a four-digit reference.

For GST/HST, you'll enter:

• Effective date of registration: When you want to start collecting GST/HST
• Reporting period: Annual, quarterly, or monthly depending on your revenue tier
• Fiscal year-end for GST/HST purposes: Usually matches your business fiscal year

For payroll, you'll enter:

• Date of first payroll: When you started or plan to start paying employees
• Frequency: Weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, or monthly
• Number of employees: A rough count is fine

6. Review and submit

Before submission, BRO shows a summary of everything you entered. Double-check the legal name, structure, and program account details, because mistakes here mean you'll be calling the CRA and filing amendment forms later. Once you submit, the system issues your nine-digit business number on screen, and any program accounts you registered for show up immediately with their extensions.

What to do after you get your BN

Your business number is active the moment BRO issues it. You can start using it right away on invoices, tax forms, business bank account applications, and provincial registrations.

A few things to do in the first week:

• Save the confirmation: BRO provides a printable summary at the end of the session. Save a PDF copy and store it with your other formation documents.
• Set up CRA My Business Account: This is the online portal where you'll file returns, remit payments, and manage program accounts going forward. It's a separate sign-in from your personal CRA My Account.
• Update your accounting system: Add the BN to your invoicing template, and once your GST/HST program account is active, map it in a connected platform so tax is coded automatically. That way your first return isn't a manual scramble.
• Update your provincial registration: Some provinces sync with the federal BN automatically, while others require manual updates. Check with the province where you're registered.

If you registered for GST/HST, your first reporting period starts on the effective date you entered. Mark the filing deadline in your calendar based on the reporting frequency you chose.

Common CRA business number registration mistakes to avoid

BRO itself is straightforward, but a few situations can cause confusion:

• Identity verification failures: If your SIN, date of birth, or postal code don't match CRA records exactly, the system blocks you from continuing. The fix is usually calling the CRA's individual tax inquiries line to update your personal info, then trying BRO again.
• Non-resident registration: If you don't have a Canadian SIN, BRO can't process the application. Non-resident businesses generally need to file paper Form RC1 instead, or work with a Canadian-resident representative who has authority to register on the company's behalf.
• Wrong business structure selected: Choosing "corporation" when you're a sole proprietor, or vice versa, creates downstream problems with how the CRA treats your filings. If you spot the error after registration, you'll need to contact the CRA to correct it.
• Backdating GST/HST registration: If you crossed the $30,000 small-supplier threshold months ago and are only registering now, you'll likely need to set the effective date retroactively. That means you'll owe GST/HST on revenue you've already collected, even if you didn't charge it to customers. Talk to an accountant about how to handle the shortfall.
• Assuming you can still register by phone: As of November 3, 2025 the CRA retired phone registration for new BNs and program accounts, so plan to complete everything online through BRO. Calls to the business enquiries line now get redirected to the portal.

Keep your books clean after your BN is active

Keeping your books clean after registration is just as important as the registration itself. Once you've added GST/HST and payroll accounts, you need to track every dollar in and out so your filings, remittances, and deductions are accurate when reporting deadlines hit.

Most of that tracking is still manual. Finance teams code HST, GST, and PST line by line into QuickBooks Online or Xero, then reconcile CAD and USD spend across separate cards before each filing. That workflow might hold up when you're processing a handful of transactions a month, but it breaks down fast as volume grows. Ramp changes that by carrying both CAD and USD corporate-card spend on one login, with receipts captured and coded automatically instead of reconciled by hand. Teams looking to go further can explore AP automation case studies to see how other finance teams have cut manual work at scale.

Close your books faster on one platform with Ramp

Ramp puts corporate cards, expense management, and bill pay on one platform that captures HST, GST, PST, and QST automatically and codes every transaction to the right GL account—so your books are reconciled before reporting deadlines, not after.

For a Canadian finance team, that looks like:

• CAD and USD cards on one login, so cross-border spend on software, ads, and travel stops living on a separate card.
• Receipts captured and coded automatically, with tax codes mapped into QuickBooks Online, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, or Microsoft Dynamics Business Central in CAD
• CAD bill pay to your Canadian vendors, with each bill coded and synced as it's paid.

Cards, expenses, and bill payments for Canadian businesses.

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See how Ramp works in Canada

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The information in this article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute accounting, legal, or tax advice. Tax registration requirements, thresholds, and filing obligations may change. For official and up-to-date CRA requirements, visit canada.ca. Please consult a qualified accountant or tax professional for advice specific to your business.