It is exciting when you are about to start a new business. You will soon find that there are many things that you need to attend to. Finding out what your responsibilities will be to the CRA regarding this new business venture is something that you do not want to put way down on your “to do” list. To make this an easier task you may want to choose your Toronto accountant right away so they can guide you through the necessary steps that ensure that your new business is complying to all of the CRA business regulations.
You are most likely going to become easily confused when you start taking a look at the requirements. One of the first tasks you may be faced with is, do you need a BN or a BIN? A BN is a business number, and a BIN is a business identification number.
The BN will be comprised of 9 digits and is what you will use as your business identifier when registering any of the needed program accounts with the CRA. Anytime that you need to correspond with the CRA regarding the various programs related to your business you will need to give them your BN.
Now the BIN is provincial identification, and for this once again you will be assigned a 9 digit number from the Ontario Ministry of Government Services. This is the provincial business id number. You will find it on your Master business licence that you should have received once your registered your business name. Anytime you need to speak with the Government on a provincial level regarding your business this is the number you would use to identify your business.
You will also have to give thought to as what programs you need to register for. This will all depend on the nature of your business. The major programs are the GST/HST, Payroll, Corporate Income Tax, and possibly Import/Export.
As you can see getting even a simple business set up properly according to government regulations is not all that easy. It can be done but it will take some time, research and effort on your part. If time is not something you have a lot of, then do consider bringing your Toronto accountant on board early in the setting up of your business, as he can take a lot of the guesswork out of the requirements you have as a new business owner and the CRA.
