Invest Start

Business Number

Your Business number is a nine digit account number that identifies your business to the federal government.  It is acquired through the Canada Revenue Agency.

You can open several different accounts for your business through a single registration. The accounts include: Payroll, HST Number, Import Export and Corporate Income Tax.

Payroll Number

A payroll account is an account number assigned to either an employer, a trustee or a payer of amounts related to employment to identify themselves when dealing with the Canada Revenue Agency. As an employer, you are responsible for deducting Canada Pension Plan (CPP) contributions, Employment Insurance (EI) premiums and income tax from remuneration or other types of income you pay, remitting them to us and reporting them on the applicable slips. A payer of other amounts can be an employer, trustee, estate executor, liquidator, administrator, or a corporate director that pays any of the following types of income:

• pension or superannuation;
• lump-sum payments;
• self-employed commissions;
• annuities;
• retiring allowances;
• patronage allocations;
• RESP accumulated income payments;
• RESP educational assistance payments;
• group term life insurance taxable benefit for former employees or retirees;
• fees or other amounts for services; or
• other income such as research grants, certain payments under a wage-loss replacement plan, death benefits, and certain benefits paid to partnerships or shareholders.

HST Number Registration

The Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) is a tax that applies on most supplies of goods and services made in Canada. The HST also applies to supplies of intangible property such as trademarks, rights to use a patent, digitized products downloaded from the Internet and paid for individually, and options to purchase property
As a business you must register for HST:

• you provide taxable supplies in Canada; and
• you are not a small supplier.

You do not have to register if:

• you are a small supplier
• your only commercial activity is the sale of real property, other than in the course of a business. Although you do not have to register for the GST/HST in this case, your sale of real property may still be taxable and you may have to charge and collect the tax.
•  you are a non-resident who does not carry on business

You are a small supplier and do not have to register if you meet one of the following conditions:

• you are a sole proprietor and your total revenues from taxable supplies (before expenses) from all of your businesses are $30,000 or less in the last four consecutive calendar quarters or in any single calendar quarter;
• you are a partnership or a corporation and your total revenues from taxable supplies (before expenses) are $30,000 or less in the last four consecutive calendar quarters or in any single calendar quarter; or
• you are a public service body (charity, non-profit organization, municipality, university, public college, school authority, or hospital authority) and your total revenues from taxable supplies from all of the activities of the organization are $50,000 or less in the last four consecutive calendar quarters or in any single calendar quarter. A gross revenue threshold of $250,000 also applies to charities and public institutions. (Source Canada Revenue Agency)
   

Import/Export Number Registration

If you import/export goods into/from Canada or export goods to other countries, you should register for an Import/Export number. The CRA will use your import-export program account number to process customs documents.

Corporate Income Tax

A corporation is a separate legal entity. It can enter into contracts and own property in its own name, separately and distinctly from its owners. It has to pay tax on its income, and therefore must file its own income tax return. A corporate income tax account number is used to remit tax to the government.