Updated Checked by the Tax-Services.ca editorial team How we check
If you typed canada.ca/taxes-business-online into your browser, you are in the right place. That short address opens the CRA’s “Digital services for Businesses” page, the front door for filing, paying and checking your business accounts online. Below we walk through what you will find there, which sign-in to pick, and the steps for the jobs most owners come for: getting a business number, filing a GST/HST return, letting a bookkeeper act for you and keeping proof that it went through. If you are a GST/HST registrant with a reporting period starting in 2024 or later, you must file electronically, and mail brings a penalty unless you qualify for an exemption.
What is canada.ca/taxes-business-online?
It is a short link to the CRA page called "Digital services for Businesses". The page says you, an employee or a representative can file, pay and see detailed information about your tax accounts online. The page itself files nothing. You pick the account that fits you, sign in, and work from there.
The page offers three doors:
- My Business Account for business owners and their employees.
- Represent a Client for a bookkeeper, accountant or other representative acting for a business.
- My Account for people who report business income on a personal return.
Below those doors the CRA groups the jobs under File, Pay, View, Change, Request, Calculate and Register. This table shows what we saw listed there when we read the page in November 2026.
| Menu | Examples the CRA lists |
|---|---|
| File | GST/HST return, rebate or election; T4 payroll; T2 corporation return; T1 for the self-employed; T5; notice of objection; nil remittance |
| Pay | Make a payment; transfer payments |
| View | Account balance and transactions, return status, correspondence, PD7A |
| Request | Submit an enquiry, direct deposit, email notifications, submit documents, respond to notices |
| Register | New business, GST/HST account, payroll accounts, trust account |
The CRA renames menu items from time to time, so treat this table as a map of the territory and expect small label changes when you get there.
Which sign-in option should you choose?
The CRA sign-in page splits things in two. Option 1 is signing in with a credential you already have: a participating Sign-In Partner, your CRA user ID and password, or, if you live in British Columbia or Alberta, a provincial partner. Option 2 is registering for a CRA account if you have none yet. Whichever you use, type the address into your browser yourself or use a bookmark, and don't use autofill on a shared computer. The CRA says so on that page.
If you are signing in on behalf of someone else, the CRA says you must use Represent a Client in your own CRA account. You cannot borrow the owner's login.
Things go wrong at the one-time passcode step more often than anywhere else. The CRA lists these fixes when the code does not show up:
- Ask for it to be sent again.
- If your phone runs over VoIP, choose "Call me" instead of "Text me".
- Use a passcode grid or a third-party authenticator app, if you set one up earlier.
The CRA also recommends adding a backup multi-factor authentication option now, while everything works, in case you lose your main one. If a CRA security code mailed to you has not arrived after 10 business days, the CRA points to its document verification service or contacting it by mail.
What do you need before you can file business taxes online?
A business number, first. The CRA calls Business Registration Online the fastest way to get one, and it needs an existing CRA account, recent tax filing history and the optional extra-protection setting on your account switched off. Save or print the number when it appears. The CRA warns it won’t be sent to you.
The same registration can add program accounts, such as GST/HST, so you don’t need a separate trip for each.
Think of Aisha, who just started a small catering business in Mississauga. Before she touches a return she needs three things in hand: her business number, her GST/HST account, and a login to the CRA account. Everything else follows from those three.
How do you register a business number online, step by step?
The CRA calls Business Registration Online the fastest and easiest way to get a business number and certain program accounts such as GST/HST and payroll. You need a CRA account first. Then:
- Sign in to your CRA account.
- On the Welcome page, select + Add account, then Business account.
- Select Register a business.
- Follow the prompts and tick the program accounts you want. The CRA lists GST/HST (RT, not for Quebec), payroll deductions (RP), corporation income tax (RC), registered charity (RR), information returns (RZ) and a few others that can be added in the same visit.
- When your business number appears, save or print it. The CRA says it won't be sent to you.
A few limits are worth knowing before you start. The service is available daily except from 3 am to 6 am Eastern for maintenance. Your session times out after 10 minutes of inactivity, and you cannot save partway through, so keep your business name, address and owner details open in a note before you begin. You cannot register for a CRA account if you have not filed your taxes, or if enhanced protection is switched on for your account.
Some situations do not fit the online route: reactivating a closed program account, a business owned by another business, a deceased owner or director, and a Canadian business with only non-resident owners. In those cases, or if you can't register online, you mail Form RC1, "Request for a Business Number and Certain Program Accounts", to your tax centre. In Quebec, Revenu Québec administers GST/HST.
How do you file a GST/HST return online in your CRA business account?
Sign in to My Business Account, pick GST/HST and your RT number, then choose “File a return.” You’ll enter your amounts, review them and tick the certification box. A six-digit confirmation number shows the CRA accepted the return for processing.
Have your business number and the “from” and “to” dates of the reporting period ready. The session times out after 35 minutes of inactivity, and if it does you lose whatever you’d typed. So gather the figures first.
Not sure what to charge or what came out of a total? The GST and HST calculator adds the tax to a price, and the HST reverse calculator strips it back out of a tax-included figure.
Which filing methods exist?
The CRA lists six for GST/HST. Here’s what the page says about each.
| Method | What the CRA says |
|---|---|
| CRA account | My Business Account or Represent a Client |
| NETFILE form | Online without a CRA account, needs an access code |
| Financial institution | Electronic data interchange through participating banks |
| Accounting software | Upload through GST/HST Internet File Transfer, needs an access code |
| Phone | TELEFILE, needs an access code |
| Paper return, penalties for most filers |
For most small firms the CRA account route is the least fuss, since you can pay or set up direct deposit for a refund in the same place.
Can a bookkeeper file for you?
Yes, but they need authorization. Representatives send a request through Represent a Client, and you approve it inside My Business Account. The CRA’s employers’ guide to payroll deductions and remittances says the same about bookkeepers and accountants acting for a payroll account. Offline, Form AUT-01 authorizes a representative for phone, mail, fax or in-person access. Only give access to someone you’d trust with your bank statements.
It’s also worth checking, once in a while, who currently has access. People change jobs and firms, and an old authorization doesn’t cancel itself just because the relationship ended.
What about payroll and corporate tax online?
Same login, different account. If you have staff, the payroll remittance calculator estimates what you’ll send in. For a corporation, the corporate tax calculator gives a rough bill on active business income. Due dates depend on your reporting period and remitter type, so check the CRA’s due-date pages linked in the payments section below.
Working for yourself with no corporation? Your profit lands on the personal return. Use the self-employed tax calculator, but remember its deductions lower income tax without lowering CPP, and it leaves EI out.
Where do payments and corporation returns fit?
The CRA says making and transferring tax payments electronically is secure, easy and fast. Business owners do it in My Business Account, and employees or representatives use Represent a Client. How often you pay depends on the tax. The CRA keeps separate pages for due dates for amounts you owe: corporate income tax, when to remit GST/HST (monthly, quarterly or annually) and when to remit payroll, which depends on your remitter type. Check your own account for your dates. We have not listed them here because they differ from business to business.
For a corporation, the CRA's Corporation Internet Filing page lists two benefits: you get immediate confirmation that the return was received, which the CRA calls legal proof for your records, and your notice of assessment arrives faster than with a paper return. Refunds come by cheque or direct deposit, and if the balance owing is under $2 you don't have to pay it. Our T2 corporate tax return guide covers the return itself, and the payroll remittance calculator gives a rough estimate of what you will send in.
Is paper ever the better choice?
Rarely. Mail carries a penalty for most filers, it’s slower to confirm, and you get no receipt number. The one real reason to avoid the online routes is if you can’t get into a CRA account, in which case NETFILE with an access code is the CRA’s other online option.
What should you gather before you file a GST/HST return?
Because the session times out after 35 minutes of inactivity, do the preparation first. Pull together your sales total for the reporting period, the tax you collected, and the tax you paid on business purchases, each backed by invoices or software reports. Check that the "from" and "to" dates you will enter match the period your account is set up for. Have your business number and RT number open in a note. Decide beforehand how you will handle any refund or balance, since the CRA account lets you pay or set up direct deposit in the same place. If a figure looks off, resolve it in your books before you start typing, not halfway through the form.
How do you keep proof of what you filed?
After you submit, copy the six-digit confirmation number into your records and save a printout or screenshot of the page. Put both in the folder for that reporting period, next to the figures you used. Do the same for any payment confirmation. When a bookkeeper files for you, ask them to send you the confirmation number each time, and look now and then at who still has authorization in My Business Account. If a CRA letter later asks about a period, you can show when the return was accepted and what it said. Without the number, you are left explaining from memory. A simple tracker with the period, the date filed and the confirmation number takes a minute to update.
How do you manage CRA mail and notifications?
Switch on email notifications. The CRA says they tell you when important changes are made on your account and when you have new mail waiting in My Business Account. Some are required, such as changes to your address, direct deposit information, authorized representative or sign-in details. You can add up to three email addresses for each program account. If you add one in My Business Account, the confirmation email arrives immediately. If you add it on an electronic return, the CRA says it can take up to 8 business days.
To check how your mail is delivered:
- Sign in to your CRA account and select your Business account.
- Select Profile in the menu on the left.
- Select Manage mail for my business, then Start.
- Follow the prompts and finish with Submit.
Online is the default. If you ask for paper mail, the CRA says you have to reapply every 2 years. While you are in the profile, it is a good moment to set up refund payments too. Our CRA direct deposit guide walks through that.
Mistakes that cost time
Registering for the wrong account is common. So is missing the confirmation number, which is your only proof the return went in. Write it down, and file a screenshot or printout with your records.
And watch for lookalike sites. Every page we used sits on canada.ca. If a site offers to file your CRA return for a fee, check who they are before you pay, and don’t type your CRA sign-in details anywhere except the CRA’s own login. A few bucks of “service fee” for something free on canada.ca is a red flag.
Quick checklist before you sign in
- Your CRA sign-in method works, and you have a backup multi-factor option.
- Your business number and the RT number for GST/HST are in a note.
- You know the reporting period dates your account is set up for.
- Your sales, tax collected and tax paid figures are ready, with the invoices or software reports behind them.
- You know where you will record the six-digit confirmation number.
- You have checked who currently has access to the account.
- You are on a canada.ca address, typed in or reached from a bookmark you made yourself.
Where this information comes from
The steps and rules above come from the Canada Revenue Agency‘s pages on registering for a GST/HST account, filing a GST/HST return and My Business Account, all read in 2026. Calculator outputs use our own engine. We aren’t a government service and we don’t speak for one.
Frequently asked questions
What is canada.ca/taxes-business-online?
It is a short link to the CRA page “Digital services for Businesses”. From there you choose My Business Account, Represent a Client or My Account, sign in, and file, pay or view your business tax accounts online.
Is canada.ca/taxes-business-online an official CRA page?
The address is on canada.ca, the Government of Canada domain, and it opens a CRA page. Type it in yourself or use your own bookmark, and enter your sign-in details only on the CRA’s own login.
Which account should a sole proprietor use?
The CRA page points people who report business income on a personal return to My Account. If you also have a business number with GST/HST or payroll accounts, you use My Business Account for those.
What if the one-time passcode never arrives?
Ask for it again, choose “Call me” if your phone runs over VoIP, or use a passcode grid or authenticator app if you set one up. The CRA also recommends adding a backup multi-factor option.
How long does Business Registration Online stay open?
The CRA says the session times out after 10 minutes of inactivity and you cannot save partway, so have your details ready before you start.
Is online GST/HST filing required?
For a registrant with a reporting period beginning in 2024 or later, yes, apart from a few exceptions such as charities. Mail filing carries a penalty.
How do I get a business number online?
Use Business Registration Online. It needs an existing CRA account and some tax filing history.
What proves my GST/HST return was filed?
The six-digit confirmation number shown after you submit.
Can I file without a CRA account?
Yes, the CRA lists NETFILE, which needs an access code.
How do I let my accountant file for me?
They send a request through Represent a Client and you approve it in My Business Account.
- Self-employed taxes in Canada: income, CPP and GST
How tax works when you are self-employed in Canada: reporting income and expenses, paying both halves of CPP, instalments and when to register for GST