Business Number (BN)

A Business Number, or BN, is the nine-digit CRA identifier that sits above an employer’s program accounts, including the payroll account used for source deductions.

It matters because payroll cannot be set up, filed, or remitted correctly if the employer is attached to the wrong business identifier. The BN is an employer setup term, not an employee pay-stub term.

Why It Matters

The BN is the anchor for:

• opening a payroll deductions account
• linking T4 reporting and remittances to the right employer
• separating one employer’s payroll records from another’s
• handling CRA payroll correspondence and account maintenance

An employer can calculate wages correctly and still have a broken payroll operation if the payroll account is not attached to the right BN.

Where It Appears In Payroll Workflow

The BN shows up at the setup and filing layers of payroll. In practice, payroll teams use it when they:

• register the employer for payroll with the CRA
• add or review the payroll program account
• file year-end payroll returns
• trace remittances and notices back to the correct employer record

That makes the BN a foundational identifier behind the whole Canadian payroll workflow.

Practical Example

A company hires its first employee in Canada. Before it can remit source deductions or file year-end payroll records, it needs a CRA business number and then a payroll account under that number.

The BN identifies the employer. The payroll account under it handles the payroll-specific work.

Related Terms

• Payroll Program Account
• Remitter Type
• Payroll Remittance
• Payroll Filing
• T4 Summary
• Source Deductions