Mandatory registration for non-resident businesses

You may be carrying on business in Canada even if you do not have a permanent establishment in Canada.

You have to register for GST/HST in the following cases:

• you provide taxable, including zero-rated, goods or services in Canada in the course of carrying on business in Canada and you are not a small supplier;
• you make taxable supplies of admissions in Canada to a place of amusement, a seminar, an activity, or an event held in Canada, even if you are a small supplier;
• you are a non-resident who enters Canada to charge admission directly to audiences at activities or events in Canada, and the admissions are not made by a resident promoter or ticket agent.
• you host a convention in Canada, and more than 25% of the delegates are residents of Canada; or
• you solicit orders for publications to be delivered to customers by mail or courier in Canada and you are not a small supplier.

See Non-resident security if you do not have a permanent establishment in Canada or if you make supplies in Canada only through another person's fixed place of business.

If you are a non-resident who does not provide goods or services in Canada, but is merely entering Canada to obtain services, you cannot register for GST/HST.

Forms and publications

• Guide RC4022, General Information for GST/HST Registrants
• Guide RC4027, Doing Business in Canada - GST/HST Information for Non-Residents
• Booklet RC2, The Business Number and Your Canada Revenue Agency Program Accounts
• GST/HST Memoranda Series Chapter 2-5, Non-resident registration
• Form RC1, Request for a Business Number (BN)
• Form RC1A, Business Number (BN) - GST/HST Account Information
• Form RC59, Business Consent Form

Related topics

• Canada Business
• Related provincial and territorial government sites
• Canada's Business and Consumer Site