Business number (BN) problem

[shawnmadub]

Hi,

I recently wanted to provide my business number (BN). Unfortunately, Shopify asks for a corporation number of 9 digits, on my legal document that Government of Canada provided me, the corporation number is only 8 digits, when I write this down and I want to apply the changes, it says that my business number (BN) is not valid. 

I would like to know how I can solve this issue.

Thank you and best regards,

[Trevor · Accepted solution]

Hi, @shawnmadub. 

Pulling from the "Glossary for the Canada Business Corporations Act:" 

The Business Number (BN) is part of a unique federal government numbering system that identifies a business and the accounts it maintains with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). The BN for acorporationis different from the corporation’s corporation number. The BN is composed of a 9-digit registration number that identifies the business and a 6-character account identifier. It is assigned to the business by CRA. (For search or identification purposes with Corporations Canada, the 9-digit registration number is relevant). By contrast, the 7-digit corporation number is assigned to the corporation by Corporations Canada. You can find a corporation’s BN by accessing Corporations Canada online database of federal corporations or by contacting Corporations Canada or CRA [http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca] directly.

From the information you've provided, you have been provided with a CRN number (typically eight digits), which is not the same as a BN. As a CRN can not be used in the BN field, the invalid BN error is normal behaviour. Your business may not have a BN yet. However, you will require a BN if you wish to set up Shopify Payments under a corporation. The CRA has further information on how to obtain a BN here, and if you have questions, it would be best to reach out to them directly. 

Hope this helps!

[shawnmadub]

Thank you !

[Elie1]

I am a registered business in Quebec, our business number is 10 digits long.

I was hoping to launch tomorrow and now I keep getting a message that our business number is invalid because it is not 9 digits. 

Can someone help?

[Trevor]

@Elie1 

This is actually your Québec Enterprise Number (NEQ). The NEQ is assigned by the Québec government. Québec merchants use the NEQ for most of their business operations, including provincial income tax filing, which is why they often think this is what we're requesting. The NEQ is different from the CRA's BN however and it is not what we're looking for. If you have not registered as a business with the CRA and been assigned a CRA Business Number for federal income tax filing, then you should set up Shopify Payments as an individual/sole proprietor and leave the BN field blank.

[Elie1]

Thank you for your help! Much appreciated, this solved my issue

[YULNWA]

For Quebec based companies: Peter's note clarified the issues for me as well, was trying to use my NEQ. We do use the NEQ for Revenu Quebec purposes but with CRA, we all have a Business Number (it's usually the same as the GST number but ends with RC001 instead of RT001 ... these suffixes are beyond the 9 digits, so not entered: e.g. 123456789 RC001 and 123456789 RT001) 

[KindaM]

Hi there,

I was actually provided with a BN and its 10 digits, and I too am trying to complete the payment section on shopify, but it's telling me it's invalid as it's asking for a 9 digit number!!

Kindly advise me what to do

[JAUSTRIA18]

Hello, 

So my BN in my record has 16 digits. As per your explanation, BN is 9, and the account identifier is 6 so does it mean that I need to only type the first 9 digits?

[CaMarche]

I'm from Quebec and our CRA business number is 10 digits, this is not the NEQ. What is the solution for this?

[Trevor]

@CaMarche 

Your number would be the NEQ in this case as CRN business numbers are only 9 digits long. More information can be found on the CRA website: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/registering-your-business/you...