Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Program Accounts

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Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Program Accounts

February 7, 2017

Tax Question:

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has issued me a business number. Now, what do I do?

Facts:

In Canada, once a company is assigned a business number then it needs to request which type of program account it needs to be setup. There are five types of accounts:

Corporate Tax Return
Payroll
Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax (GST/HST)
Import/Export
Information Return

Discussion:

Each account is identified by two letters and is added to the nine-digit business number.

Corporate Tax Return (RC) – This account is used when filing your corporate tax return.
Payroll (RP) – This account is used when filing and remitting payroll deductions, as well as annual employee payslips (T4 slips).
Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax (GST/HST) (RT) – This account is used when filing your GST/HST return. In addition, you are required to include your GST/HST account number on your invoice so that customers can claim the GST/HST paid on their GST/HST returns. Your GST/HST account number would be your business number followed by RT.
Import/Export (RM) – This account is used to process customs documents when importing/exporting goods into/out of Canada.
Information Return (RZ) – This account is used to file information returns such as Statements of Investment Income (T5 slips), Returns of Securities Transactions (T5008 slips) and Partnership Information Returns (T5013 slips).

If you would like more information on this topic, please contact a member of the Empire CPA team by filling out the contact form below.

Canadian and foreign tax laws are complex and have a tendency to change on a frequent basis. As such, the content published above is believed to be accurate as of the date of this post. Before implementing any tax planning, please seek professional advice from a qualified tax professional. Empire, Chartered Professional Accountants will not accept any liability for any tax ramifications that may result from acting based on the information contained above.