How to Register for HST/GST and Get a Business Number in Canada

To register for HST or GST in Canada, you first need a 9-digit business number (BN) from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), then you add a GST/HST program account to it, which is done online. Registration becomes mandatory once your taxable sales go over $30,000 in a single calendar quarter or over four consecutive quarters. Below that, registering is voluntary.

This guide explains what a business number is, which program accounts a new corporation needs, the 2026 GST/HST rates by province, how to register step by step, and when you also need a payroll account and WSIB coverage in Ontario.

What is a business number in Canada?

A business number is the CRA's standard identifier for your business or legal entity. It is nine digits long, and one business uses one BN for all its CRA accounts.

Each tax account you open sits on top of the BN as a program account. A program account number has three parts: the 9-digit BN, a 2-letter program identifier and a 4-digit reference number. For example, a payroll account might be 123456789 RP 0001.

The CRA program accounts a business may need

The GST number customers ask for is your RT account number, not a separate number. In Ontario, people often call the same thing an "HST number".

Do you get a business number automatically when you incorporate?

In most provinces, yes. The CRA says you receive a BN when you register or incorporate in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island or Saskatchewan. Federal incorporation through Corporations Canada also gives you a BN and the corporation income tax (RC) account.

Businesses in Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Quebec and Yukon do not get one through provincial registration and must register for a BN separately with the CRA.

The automatic BN only covers the RC account. Your GST/HST, payroll and other accounts are not opened for you. You add each one to the BN when you need it.

An unincorporated business, such as a sole proprietorship, needs a BN only when it registers for a CRA program account, for example GST/HST.

When do you have to register for GST/HST?

You must register once you stop being a small supplier. You are a small supplier while your revenue from taxable supplies, together with that of your associates, is $30,000 or less in any single calendar quarter and in the last four consecutive calendar quarters. Public service bodies use a $50,000 threshold.

1. Over $30,000 in one calendar quarter: you stop being a small supplier immediately. The sale that takes you over the limit is taxable, and you must register within 29 days.
2. Over $30,000 across four consecutive quarters, but not in a single quarter: you stop being a small supplier at the end of the month following the fourth quarter, and you must register within 29 days of that day.

Some businesses must register from their first sale, whatever their revenue. Taxi and commercial ride-sharing providers are the most common example.

Should you register for HST voluntarily?

Often, yes. A small supplier can register voluntarily, which lets it claim input tax credits on the GST/HST it pays on business expenses. That matters most when you sell to other businesses, who can claim back the tax you charge them, or when your start-up costs are high.

Weigh two points first. Once registered, you must charge GST/HST and file returns, even in quiet periods. And you generally have to stay registered for at least one year before you can ask to cancel.

GST/HST rates by province in 2026

The rate you charge depends on where the supply is made, not where your business is located. These are the current CRA rates, unchanged in 2026 since Nova Scotia's cut on April 1, 2025.

Provincial sales taxes in British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and the QST in Quebec, are registered with the province, not through your CRA business number.

What about Quebec?

If your business is physically located in Quebec, Revenu Québec generally administers the GST/HST for you. You register and file GST/HST returns with Revenu Québec, using its forms, rather than with the CRA.

How to register for HST and get a business number

Since November 3, 2025, new BN and program account registrations must be done online. The CRA no longer takes new registrations by phone, except in a few cases listed below.

1. Check whether you already have a BN. If you incorporated in Ontario, federally or in another participating province, look at your incorporation documents or CRA mail. Don't apply for a second BN.
2. Gather your information: legal name, corporation number and date, addresses, directors' names and SINs, a description of your main business activity, and your expected annual sales.
3. Use Business Registration Online (BRO). Sign in to a CRA business account and choose to register a business or add a program account. Select GST/HST (RT) and, if needed, payroll (RP).
4. Choose your effective date and reporting period. Your reporting period sets how often you file GST/HST returns. A voluntary registration usually takes effect on the date you apply, and the CRA can accept a date up to 30 days earlier.
5. Record your account numbers. Put your RT number on invoices and start charging the correct rate from the effective date.

Form RC1, Request for a Business Number and Certain Program Accounts, is the paper option for those who can't register online. The CRA lists cases that still need the Business Enquiries line or paper: a Canadian business with only non-resident owners, a business owned by another corporation or partnership, and reactivating a closed account.

Registering as a non-resident

A business incorporated or located outside Canada uses the CRA's Non-Resident Business Registration form online. It covers the BN, GST/HST (including the digital economy), payroll, information returns and corporation income tax. If you can't register online, you can mail or fax Form RC1 to the CRA's non-resident registration unit. A Canadian corporation owned only by non-residents falls under the phone-or-paper exception above. Our guide to incorporating in Canada as a non-resident covers the rest of the setup.

Do you need a CRA payroll account?

You need a payroll (RP) account as soon as you pay employees, including yourself if you take a salary from your corporation. Add it to your existing BN before your first remittance is due. That is normally the 15th of the month after the month you first withheld deductions.

If you haven't opened the account in time, you still have to deduct and remit by the due date, or you may be charged a penalty. Owners paid only through dividends don't need a payroll account for those payments, though dividends have their own slip-filing rules.

WSIB registration in Ontario: when is it required?

The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is separate from the CRA. By law, most Ontario businesses must register with the WSIB within 10 calendar days of hiring their first employee. Construction businesses have different rules and may need to register even without employees.

You can register before you hire, but it isn't required. Registration is online, takes about 10 minutes, and in most cases you get your WSIB account number as soon as you submit. Late registration can lead to penalties and retroactive premiums.

Let us register your CRA accounts for you

When you incorporate in Ontario with OpenCompany, you can add Business Number, HST account, payroll account and WSIB registration to your order in the incorporation wizard, and we'll register them for you once the corporation exists. See our pricing for the add-ons. For the government side of starting up, read how much it costs to incorporate in Ontario, and keep your corporation in good standing with our Ontario annual return filing.