Register for a GST/HST account

Your effective date of registration depends on your type of business and whether you are required to register for a GST/HST account.

Mandatory registration

The effective date of registration is usually the day you stop being a small supplier, but it can also be an earlier date based on the small supplier limits for different types of businesses.

For details: When to register for and start charging the GST/HST

Taxi operator or commercial ride-sharing driver

It is mandatory to register even if you are a small supplier. Your effective date of registration is the day you start supplying taxable passenger transportation services.

For details: GST/HST information for taxi operators and commercial ride-sharing drivers

Voluntary registration

If you register voluntarily for a GST/HST account when you are still a small supplier, your effective date of registration is usually the date of your request. It may also start up to 30 days before your request date. When you register voluntarily, you may need to remain registered for at least one year before you can cancel your registration.

For details: Register voluntarily for a GST/HST account

Effective date more than 30 days before registration

If you were required to register for the GST/HST or were charging the GST/HST for more than 30 calendar days before registering, follow the steps for backdating your GST/HST registration by more than 30 days.

For details: Request to backdate your GST/HST registration by more than 30 days.

Fiscal year is the same as your tax year for income tax purposes

A GST/HST fiscal year is usually the same as your tax year for income tax purposes and the tax year generally corresponds to the calendar year (January 1 to December 31) for:

• Individuals and certain trusts
• Professional corporations who are members of a partnership (such as the professional practice of a lawyer, doctor, or an accountant)
• Partnerships with at least one member who is an individual, a professional corporation, or another affected partnership

Using a non-calendar tax year

If you are one of the groups listed above and want to use a non-calendar tax year, it must be approved by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). In these cases, you may want to use that same year as your GST/HST fiscal year.

A corporation generally uses the same fiscal year for both income tax purposes and GST/HST purposes. If a corporation uses a non-calendar tax year for income tax purposes, it can elect to use a calendar year for its GST/HST fiscal year.

If your corporation's fiscal year is a non-calendar year for both income tax and GST/HST purposes, and you change to a different non-calendar year for income tax purposes, you must notify the CRA as soon as possible, so your GST/HST fiscal year will be changed accordingly.

For details: Make changes to an account – Fiscal year

Your total annual revenue includes revenues from:

• Taxable sales, leases, and other supplies (including zero-rated supplies)
• Taxable supplies of all your associates

Do not include revenues from:

• Exempt supplies
• Financial services
• Sales of capital property
• Goodwill from the sale of the business

For new businesses

If you are just starting your business, you may give the CRA a reasonable estimate of your income for the year.

Personal information

For online registration, the person submitting the request must provide their:

• Last name
• Social Insurance number (SIN)
• Date of birth
• Postal code of home address (where you live)

Business information

You must provide all of the following information about your business:

• Business name
• Business number (BN), if you have one
• Type of business (for example: sole proprietor, partnership, corporation, domestic worker, trust)
• Name and SIN of all owners
• Physical and mailing addresses
• Description of major business activity

You cannot complete the following using BRO:

• Reactivate a previously closed program account
• Register a business owned by another business, for example, where the partner is a corporation or partnership
• Register a business when the owner or director is deceased, for example, when an estate needs to file business taxes
• Register a Canadian business with only non-resident owners