How to Get a Business Number in Canada: the CRA BN Explained

The business number in one paragraph

The business number is the CRA's nine-digit root identifier for your business — the number every federal business tax account hangs off. You get it free, usually in one sitting through Business Registration Online, and each program account (GST/HST, payroll, corporate income tax, information returns, charity) extends it with a two-letter code and a reference number: 123456789RT0001. You need one when you register for GST/HST, hire employees, import or export, incorporate, or register a charity. You do not need one to be a freelancer or sole proprietor under $30,000 with no staff — but nothing stops you from getting one early, and this guide covers when it makes sense.

Step 1: Learn the anatomy (the BN and its program accounts)

The BN itself is not a tax account — it is the anchor. The CRA's program accounts page puts it plainly: the BN is your unique 9-digit number, and the number stays the same no matter how many program accounts you add. When you register for a program account, the CRA appends a two-letter program identifier and a four-digit reference number to the BN, producing the 15-character account number you actually file under.

Two notes that catch founders. First, the RM import/export code is now legacy: the CBSA became responsible for issuing and maintaining RM accounts on May 13, 2024, and enrolment runs through the CBSA's CARM Client Portal, which became the system of record on October 21, 2024. You need your 9-digit BN before you can register in CARM. Second, accounts do not imply each other — registering for a GST/HST account (RT) does not create a payroll account (RP). Register exactly the accounts your triggers demand.

Step 2: Run the five triggers (do you actually need one?)

The CRA's When you need a business number page gives the narrow version: you need a BN when you need a GST/HST, payroll, or another CRA program account, or when you incorporate. The five triggers below are that list in working form.

1. GST/HST registration. You cross the $30,000 small-supplier threshold in taxable sales, or you register voluntarily below it to claim input tax credits. This is the most common trigger for sole proprietors.
2. Payroll. You hire your first employee. You need the RP account before the first payroll runs, not after — late payroll registration is one of the cheaper mistakes to avoid by registering early.
3. Importing or exporting. You move goods across the border. The CBSA took over RM accounts on May 13, 2024 and registration now goes through the CARM Client Portal; you need the BN first, because a CRA business number is mandatory to complete CARM registration.
4. Incorporating. Federal incorporation, or incorporation in a province partnered with the CRA, gets a BN and an RC corporate income tax account assigned automatically. If your incorporation did not produce one, register via BRO.
5. Another CRA program account. Filing information returns (RZ) and registering a charity (RR) both hang off a BN. If your situation needs one of those accounts, you need the BN first.

When you don't need one: a sole proprietor under $30,000 in taxable sales, with no employees, no imports or exports, and no corporation. Some founders in that position still register — a bank or a large client asked, or they want the number before the GST threshold lands. It is free, so the cost of early registration is a 15-minute session, not a fee.

One thing the BN is not: public proof of legitimacy. Customers checking your GST/HST number use the GST/HST Registry, which confirms a supplier is registered from the first nine digits of the account number, the business's legal or operating name, and the transaction date. The BN on its own is a tax identifier, not a listing or a badge.

Step 3: Register — BRO first, paper as the fallback

Business Registration Online (BRO) is the default route and the only fast one. You complete the application on the CRA website, open program accounts in the same sitting, and receive the BN at the end of the session. Three practical notes:

• Sign-in is now mandatory. Since July 14, 2026, you must sign in to your CRA account to reach BRO — with CRA credentials, a Sign-In Partner, or a BC or Alberta provincial partner. Set up access before you start.
• The phone route is gone. Since November 3, 2025, new business number and program account registrations must be done online; if you call the Business Enquiries line to register, you will be directed to BRO. The cases BRO cannot do (reactivating a closed program account, a Canadian business with only non-resident owners, a business owned by another business) go by Form RC1 instead. If a guide or advisor still lists the phone route, it is stale.
• The portal runs 21 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is unavailable only from 3 am to 6 am Eastern time for system maintenance. Unlike the CRA phone lines, there is no business-hours window to hit.

Form RC1 by mail or fax remains the fallback when you cannot register online. The form is "Request for a Business Number and Certain Program Accounts"; the form itself says the process and mailing time can take 30 days or more for the BN and account numbers to come back by mail. This is the route to plan around when a deadline is near — the mail lane is measured in weeks, the online lane in minutes.

Automatic on incorporation is the route many corporations never notice. Federal incorporation and incorporation in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, or Saskatchewan trigger the CRA to assign a BN and an RC account without a separate filing (the CRA's corporation income tax account page lists the partners). Incorporating in Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, or Nunavut does not: register with the CRA instead. Registering a business with a partner province can also deliver a BN — BC and Ontario registrations, for example, end with a notice by mail confirming the number. Check what your incorporation or registration package actually delivered before filing again.

Non-residents register through the CRA's dedicated non-resident online form. If you cannot register online, mail Form RC1 to Non-resident Registration and Security, Atlantic Tax Centre, Canada Revenue Agency, 275 Pope Rd, Summerside, PE C1N 6A2, or fax it to 1-519-971-2011.

Step 4: Have this ready before you start

Gather these before the session: BRO does not let you save a session partway, and it times out after 10 minutes of inactivity.

1. Legal name of the business and any operating name, if different.
2. Business structure: sole proprietorship, partnership, or corporation.
3. Social Insurance Numbers. Form RC1 collects a SIN for the sole proprietor, all partners, all directors, and all officers, and the sole proprietor's SIN is mandatory when registering for a GST/HST program account.
4. Physical and mailing addresses. The physical address must be the physical, geographical, civic or legal location of the operation — RC1 is explicit that a rural route, suburban service number, PO box, or general delivery does not count as a physical address.
5. A detailed description of the business activity. RC1 asks for at least a noun, a verb, and an adjective, plus up to three main products or services with their estimated share of revenue.
6. Which program accounts you want to open — decided in Step 2.

Step 5: After registration

Save or print the confirmation page at the end of the BRO session — the CRA does not send it to you separately, and reconstructing it later means a phone call. Then:

• Set up My Business Account. This becomes the day-to-day hub: file GST/HST returns, payroll slips, and corporate returns; view balances and correspondence; make payments; update the business profile.
• Keep the record current. Address, business activity, ownership, and contact changes go through My Business Account or the CRA's Business Enquiries line. Stale records slow down every future interaction.
• File what the accounts demand. A BN with an RT account and no GST returns is worse than no BN — the accounts you opened carry filing obligations from the effective date.

Startup checklist

• Five triggers run: is a BN needed now, or is this early?
• Program accounts decided (RT, RP, RC, RZ, RR — exactly what the triggers demand)
• CRA account access set up (BRO requires sign-in since July 2026)
• Details gathered: SINs, civic physical address, activity description, account choices
• Registered via BRO; confirmation page saved or printed
• My Business Account set up for ongoing filing and payments
• Quebec? — GST/QST registration goes through Revenu Québec
• Post-BN steps: provincial business registration, municipal licence, business bank account

Related guides

• How to Register for GST/HST in Canada — the federal tax registration that is usually the reason you get a BN: the three registration routes, what you need before you start, and the Quebec exception.
• How to Register a Sole Proprietorship and Get a GST/HST Number in Canada — the national sole-proprietorship walkthrough: provincial registration, CRA business number, and the $30,000 GST/HST threshold.
• How to Register a Business in Ontario — the provincial filing the BN does not replace: Ontario's $60 Business Names Act registration, the 9-digit BIN, and the 5-year renewal clock.
• How to Register a Business in British Columbia — BC's two-stage name-approval process — and the provincial registration that can hand you a CRA business number automatically.
• How to Incorporate: Federal vs Provincial in Canada — when the business outgrows the BN-plus-registration stage: the $350 BC company incorporation and the federal route compared.
• How to Look Up a GST/HST Number in Canada — verifying the other party's tax registration before you sign — the public registry the BN itself does not have.
• How to Open a Business Bank Account in Canada — what comes after registration: the account your bank will not open without the registration document and the BN.
• Best Business Bank Accounts for New Businesses in Canada Compared — the side-by-side comparison of fees, e-Transfer allowances, and promos for new businesses.

Sources

• Canada Revenue Agency, CRA program accounts — a program account number consists of your unique 9-digit BN, a 2-letter program identifier, and a 4-digit reference number; the identifiers in current use are RT, RP, RC, RZ, and RR.
• Canada Revenue Agency, When you need a business number — you need a BN when you need a GST/HST, payroll, or another CRA program account, or when you incorporate; you can only have one BN for your business or legal entity, and new program accounts are added to the existing BN; you receive a BN when you register or incorporate with Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, or Saskatchewan, and you do not receive one with Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, or Nunavut.
• Canada Revenue Agency, Corporation income tax (RC) program account — incorporating federally or in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, or Prince Edward Island automatically assigns a BN and a corporation income tax program account; a BN registered through Business Registration Online arrives after you complete your registration, while the RC1 and British Columbia or Ontario routes end with a notice by mail confirming the BN.
• Canada Revenue Agency, Register for a business number or program account using Business Registration Online — you must have a CRA account to access BRO; you can register for a BN and the RT, RP, RC, RR, and RZ accounts at the same time; you must save or print your BN for your records because it will not be sent to you; the session times out after 10 minutes of inactivity, you cannot save information during the process, and the service is available daily except between 3 am and 6 am Eastern time.
• Canada Revenue Agency, Businesses: changes are coming to the way you access Business Registration Online — as of July 14, 2026, BRO is only accessible through your CRA account, signing in with CRA credentials, a Sign-In Partner, or a provincial partner (British Columbia or Alberta); all BN and program account registrations must be completed online through BRO, which is available 21 hours a day, 7 days a week, and returns the BN and program accounts instantly with immediate confirmation.
• Canada Revenue Agency, Businesses, go online to register for your business number and CRA program accounts — starting November 3, 2025, registrations for a new BN or CRA program account must be done online, and callers to the Business Enquiries line are directed to BRO; BRO cannot reactivate a previously closed program account, register a Canadian business with only non-resident owners, or register a business owned by another business, and those cases use Form RC1; the accounts BRO lists are RT, RP, RC, and RZ, with no RM.
• Canada Revenue Agency, Form RC1: Request for a Business Number and Certain Program Accounts — the form (RC1 E, 11/2025) states that in most cases BRO returns the BN and program accounts instantly, that sending the form to your tax centre returns the numbers by mail and the process and mailing time can take 30 days or more, that if you operate more than one business as a sole proprietor your BN applies to all your businesses, that you do not need to fill in Part D if you incorporated federally or with a partnered province because a BN and an RC account are assigned automatically, that a rural route, suburban service number, PO box, or general delivery cannot be used as a physical address, that the sole proprietor SIN is mandatory for a GST/HST program account, and that the major business activity is described in detail with up to three main products or services and their estimated revenue shares. Note: the older GST/HST Memorandum 2-1 still describes registration by phone at 1-800-959-5525; the November 2025 tax tip governs, and this guide follows the tax tip.
• Canada Revenue Agency, Register for a business number and program accounts as a non-resident — non-residents use the Non-Resident Business Registration online form for a BN and the RT, RP, RZ, and RC accounts; if you cannot register online, mail Form RC1 to Non-resident Registration and Security, Atlantic Tax Centre, Canada Revenue Agency, 275 Pope Rd, Summerside, PE C1N 6A2, or fax it to 1-519-971-2011; the page also states that as of October 21, 2024, the import and export program account is administered by the Canada Border Services Agency.
• Canada Border Services Agency, Customs Notice 24-18 — effective May 13, 2024, the CBSA became responsible for issuing and maintaining new and existing import-export (RM) program accounts; the CARM system did not become the official system of record on that date, and its external launch was rescheduled to October 21, 2024; the CRA remains responsible for issuing the 9-digit business number.
• Canada Border Services Agency, Get started: CARM Client Portal — importers register their business in the CARM portal themselves and a customs broker cannot do it for them; a business number is mandatory to complete CARM Client Portal registration, and a business without an RM number may enrol for a commercial program when it registers in the portal.
• Revenu Québec, Registering with Revenu Québec — a business carrying on commercial activities in Quebec whose business income and associates' income exceeds $30,000 must register for the GST/HST and the QST, using Revenu Québec's Register a New Business online service or form LM-1-V.
• Canada Revenue Agency, Confirming a GST/HST account number — the GST/HST Registry is a free service that confirms the business charging you GST/HST is registered, using only the first nine digits of the GST/HST account number plus the supplier's legal, operating, or trading name and the transaction date; the page gives the Business enquiries line as 1-800-959-5525.
• Canada Revenue Agency, About My Business Account — My Business Account is the online portal in your CRA account for GST/HST, payroll, corporation income tax, and other program accounts; its services include filing a return, viewing and paying an account balance, viewing mail, and managing addresses, direct deposit, operating names, and program account names.