How to register a payroll account with CRA

What a payroll account is

A payroll program account is how CRA tracks the income tax, CPP, and EI you withhold from employees and remit on their behalf. It sits under your business number as a program account, and the number you get is your nine-digit BN followed by RP0001. If you already have a GST/HST account (RT) or a corporate tax account (RC), the payroll account attaches to the same BN.

You need one if you pay salaries, wages, bonuses, commissions, or most other amounts to employees. You also need one if you pay pensions or other amounts that require withholding. Paying a contractor on invoice does not, on its own, require a payroll account, though the T4 versus T4A line is worth getting right before you decide someone is a contractor.

When you have to register

CRA’s rule is that you register before your first remittance due date. For a new employer, that is normally the fifteenth of the month after the month you first withheld deductions. So if your first pay run is in March, the account has to exist by April 15.

In practice, register before the first pay run. The number goes on the remittance, on your payroll software setup, and eventually on the T4 slips, and it is easier to have it from day one than to backfill it. Missing the deadline does not excuse the remittance itself — CRA still expects the deductions calculated and paid on time, and the late remittance penalty applies either way.

The four ways to register

Business Registration Online. The fastest route. If you do not yet have a business number, BRO issues the BN and the RP account in the same session. If you already have a BN, you add the payroll account to it. The number is usually issued while you are still in the session.

My Business Account. If you are already registered for CRA’s business portal, you can add a payroll program account from inside it without starting a new BRO application.

By phone. CRA’s business enquiries line can open the account with you on the call. Same-day, but expect a wait.

Form RC1. The paper request for a business number and program accounts, sent by mail or fax. Slowest of the four, and only worth using if the online and phone routes are not open to you.

What you need on hand

• Your business number, if you have one, or the details to get one: legal name, structure, incorporation information for a corporation, and the business address
• The date you paid, or expect to pay, the first employee
• Your pay frequency — weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, or monthly
• A rough count of employees and expected annual payroll, which CRA uses to set your remitter type
• The province of employment for each employee, which decides the provincial tax tables and any provincial registrations

What comes next

Registering is the first of several setup steps, and the ones that follow are where new employers most often slip.

Employee paperwork. Each employee completes a federal TD1 and a provincial TD1 so you withhold the right amount of tax. Collect a SIN and a void cheque or direct deposit form at the same time.

Remitter type. New employers start as regular remitters, due by the fifteenth of the following month. Small employers with a clean record may qualify to remit quarterly instead. Our guide to payroll remittances covers how the types work and how CRA moves you between them.

Provincial registrations. In Ontario, most employers must register with WSIB within ten days of hiring the first worker, and Employer Health Tax registration applies once payroll passes the exemption threshold. If any employee lives in Quebec, you also need a Revenu Québec account — a common situation for Ottawa businesses with staff in Gatineau, covered on our Ottawa payroll page.

Year-end. The RP account number goes on every T4 and the T4 Summary. If it was set up correctly at the start, year-end reconciles to the remittances without a scramble.

How taxifi handles it

Payroll setup is part of onboarding, not a separate project. We confirm the BN, open the RP account if you do not have one, identify which provincial registrations apply, collect the TD1s, and set the pay schedule and remitter type before the first run. From then on, remittances, slips, and Records of Employment come out of the same records that keep your books, prepared by an accountant who is already watching the file.

More on payroll: Payroll services · Small business payroll · Outsourced payroll · Ottawa · Toronto · Payroll remittances · Register a CRA payroll account · T4 vs. T4A

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