The Buzz

Making changes to your business? The Canada Revenue Agency is here to help!

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) understands that many businesses continue to change in response to new economic challenges and opportunities. As you undergo business changes, you may face different requirements in managing your tax affairs, and we are here to help, year-round, with your unique business needs.

Making updates online

When your business is going through changes, visit the Changes to your business and Canada Revenue Agency program accounts page to find the information you need for your next steps. You can easily make some changes online through My Business Account.

Here are some updates you can make online:

• Authorize a representative
• Change a business address
• Change a business operating name
• Manage owner phone number
• Manage notification preferences to add or change an email

Save time when updating your business information by registering for My Business Account.

Getting back to business

If you find yourself in a situation where you have closed your business and are now resuming operations, depending on your situation, you may need to contact us:

• When you decide to re-open a business account, including a payroll or GST/HST account, and the legal entity has not changed – just call us at 1-800-959-5525 (note that you may be asked to provide additional information to confirm your identity). 
• If the legal entity type has changed – we consider your business to be a new business and you will need to register for a new business number and new program accounts.
• If you dissolved a corporation and would like to re-open a Corporate Income Tax account – you must send articles of revival to your tax centre. To find your office, go to Tax services office and tax centres. Reviving a corporation is not a change in the legal entity.

Other changes the CRA needs to know about

The CRA gets thousands of questions each year from businesses looking for help as they change. Our Changes to your business and Canada Revenue Agency program accounts page will give you information on what the CRA needs in many common situations, such as:

• Administrative changes – Among other things, you have to contact the CRA if you want to change your fiscal year-end, the name or address of your business or the business activity you’re engaged in. You’ll also have to inform the CRA whenever one of the owners, partners or directors of your business changes. Or you can simply contact us to update your phone number and email address.
• Growing your business – Information is available on the tax implications of buying a business, opening more branches, locations and divisions, bringing personal assets into your business, adding CRA program accounts to your business number, and more.
• Changes to business operations – Find out what the CRA needs if you are looking to temporarily stop business operations or sell your business, close CRA program accounts, file for bankruptcy or enter into receivership, if there has been a retirement or death of business owner or partner, and more. 

Stay up to date on changes that affect business taxes

Keeping up with changes to business taxes is important for managing your business effectively. Recently, there have been updates such as new electronic filing thresholds and the requirement for most GST/HST returns to be filed electronically. For more information about the 2024 changes affecting business taxes, please visit Businesses: Here are the top changes this year that will affect business taxes in 2024.

The CRA has introduced a new identity validation option when registering for the CRA sign-in services, including My Business Account. The document verification service, makes it easier than ever to register. This secure method validates your identity in real-time, granting full and immediate access to the CRA sign-in services without needing to wait for a mailed CRA security code. For more information on the document verification service, please visit How can I verify my identity without a CRA security code?

To stay up to date on what’s new in My Business Account, please visit: My Business Account - What's new - Canada.ca

Did you know you can receive quick, relevant updates on business taxes every other month with our Businesses – Tax Information Newsletter? Stay on top of the latest changes and essential updates! Don’t miss out—subscribe here!

Liaison Officer service

The Liaison Officer service (LO) offers free, personalized support to owners of small businesses and self-employed individuals. The LO service is available across Canada to help you understand your tax obligations. A visit from a Liaison Officer is 100% confidential; the information you choose to discuss with a Liaison Officer will not be shared with other areas of the CRA, or anyone else.

You can request a visit from a Liaison Officer using our online request form.

Looking for more information?

As you make any kind of changes to your business, you might have questions and need information and guidance from the CRA. We can help. The Resources for Small and Medium businesses web page provides direct access to tax-related services and information for businesses.