Low-cost Form RC1 — business number registration

Form RC1 — who files it, when it is due, what late filing costs, and what we charge to prepare it. Canada (CRA). Low-cost RC1 with a fixed fee agreed in writing before any work starts. Call the 24-hour helpline on +1 (416) 619-0068, or request a written quote today.

  • 15+Years of cross-border experience
  • 18,000+Clients served
  • 5.0Google rating
  • 4Global offices — India, USA, Canada & UAE

Secure a fixed quote

Your own file sets the fee. Send it over, and a written quote arrives before anything is prepared.

24-hour helpline: +1 (416) 619-0068
  • 24-hour helpline: +1 (416) 619-0068
  • Fixed fee agreed before work starts
  • Google rating 5.0 out of 5
In 60 words

Form RC1 is an identifier or registration: Registers a business number and the CRA programme accounts a business needs. New Canadian businesses and foreign businesses acquiring Canadian filing, payroll or sales-tax obligations.

Do you need this?

New Canadian businesses and foreign businesses acquiring Canadian filing, payroll or sales-tax obligations.

Here is the part that decides your answer. Which accounts a foreign business needs depends on what it actually does in Canada — and opening a payroll account before deciding whether there is a permanent establishment can create obligations that a review would have avoided.

Two of the firm’s advisers at a desk in the Delhi office

Transparent, fixed pricing for rc1 business number registration

Business number registration is priced on how many programme accounts the business actually needs — payroll, sales tax, import and export, corporate income tax — and on whether the applicant is foreign rather than Canadian. One account for a new domestic company is short work; several accounts for an overseas group is not.

Cross-border payroll setup — fixed-fee price

From $999

fixed, quoted before work starts

Registrations, source deductions and reporting in the country of work, plus the social security certificate and the day-count discipline that supports the position.
See the full fee page

PE / structure opinion — fixed-fee price

From $999

fixed, quoted before work starts

A written opinion on whether the activity creates a taxable presence, what would be attributable to it if it did, and what could be changed to alter the answer.
See the full fee page

Payroll & mobility setup

From $999

fixed, quoted before work starts

Registrations, withholding and the employer obligations that follow staff working across a border, set up once and correctly.
See the fee schedule

Corporate cross-border filing

From $999

fixed, quoted before work starts

Corporate returns with foreign income, related-party reporting and cross-border structures, for companies of any size.
See the fee schedule

Individual tax filing

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

Individual returns where salary, investments or property sit outside the country of residence, prepared so relief is claimed once and in the right place.
See the fee schedule

Transfer pricing documentation

From $2,500

fixed, quoted before work starts

Local file, master file and benchmarking for groups trading across borders, documented to the standard the authority expects.
See the fee schedule

Non-resident & departure filings

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

Arrival and departure years priced as one engagement, with the part-year residence position and the assets deemed disposed of on exit.
See the fee schedule

Foreign asset & information reporting

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

Foreign holdings mapped once — accounts, real property, shareholdings — then reported to each authority in the form it requires.
See the fee schedule

All published fees on one page — all of it on a single page, so the number you compare is the number you pay.

What the reporting test actually looks at

What decides whether Form RC1 applies
What the identifier unlocksDocuments required
The obligationRegisters a business number and the CRA programme accounts a business needs.
Who it bindsNew Canadian businesses and foreign businesses acquiring Canadian filing, payroll or sales-tax obligations.
Jurisdiction and authorityCanada — CRA
Category of filingIdentifier or registration

When it is due

There is no annual deadline; there is a sequencing one. Everything downstream — filings, refunds, treaty claims, bank instructions — waits on the identifier, so it sits at the front of the project plan. The date is confirmed for your year at the start of the engagement, not assumed from last year's.

What late or missed filing costs

The cost of delay is not a penalty, it is a stalled file: a refund that cannot be claimed, a treaty rate that cannot be documented, a remittance a bank will not process. The practical response is not speed but order: mapping every affected year before contacting an authority is what keeps relief on the table.

The arithmetic, worked through

Numbers make this concrete, so here is the same rule applied to a set of figures.

Credit relief on one stream of income

Take C$85,000 of income taxed in both countries. Assume the other country charged 21% on it and the home country would charge 38% on the same amount.

Credit relief on one stream of income
ItemAmount
Income taxed in both countriesC$85,000
Tax paid abroad (assumed 21%)C$17,850
Home tax on the same income (assumed 38%)C$32,300
Credit available (lesser of the two)C$17,850
Home tax still payableC$14,450

The credit absorbs C$17,850 and leaves C$14,450 payable at home, because the home rate on this income is the higher of the two. The balance is real cash and it is due on the home timetable, which is why instalments get raised in the first meeting. We run this on your actual numbers before advising anything, because the conclusion can invert with a modest change in inputs.

The figures here are an illustration, not an engagement: amounts are picked so the mechanism is easy to follow, and every rate or threshold is an assumption of the example. Before anything is filed for you, each one is confirmed with the issuing authority for your own tax year.

How we prepare and file it, and what it costs

Pricing is settled first: a written scope and a fixed fee for it, before any work begins. See the US person with a foreign business for comparable engagements.

What working with us looks like

  1. 1We establish what happened and when, because every position here is anchored to a date
  2. 2A written scope and a fixed price, so you know the cost before committing
  3. 3The filings are prepared, cross-checked against each other, and reviewed by name
  4. 4You see the result, approve it, and we file it
  • A change of scope is re-quoted before the work, never added to the invoice after it.
  • Fixed fees agreed before any work starts, so the number in the quote is the number on the invoice.
  • We will tell you when you do not need us, and that call is free.

We would rather scope it properly than quote it quickly.

Reviewed for the 2025 and 2026 filing seasons by Udit Gupta, Cross-Border Tax Expert, Legal Quotient Consultants. Published as general information. For a position on your own file, call the 24-hour helpline.

Where Canada tax forms comes into this file

The search that brings most people to this page is Canada tax forms. It is answered here for RC1: what creates the obligation, which filings discharge it, and the fee agreed before the work starts.

Which accounts a foreign business needs depends on what it actually does in Canada — and opening a payroll account before deciding whether there is a permanent establishment can create obligations that a review would have avoided.

The four phases of the work

  1. Send what you already have

    Slips, statements, prior returns — in any order. We list what is still needed after reading them.

  2. A fee agreed in writing

    Quoted from those documents, before the work starts, and it does not move once you accept it.

  3. Each side drafted against the other

    The returns are built together rather than in sequence, so relief is claimed once and in the right country.

  4. You approve before it is filed

    The finished return comes to you first. Nothing is submitted on your behalf unseen.

What you are actually buying with rc1 business number registration

Factor Legal Quotient Hourly billing model
Pricing A fixed fee, agreed in writing before work starts Hourly, billed as incurred
Experience 15+ years of cross-border work, 18,000+ clients Varies by file
Both sides of the border Prepared together by one team, so relief is claimed exactly once One country at a time, reconciled later
Who reviews it A named practitioner, published on the page Whoever the queue reaches
Where the work happens Our offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE Whichever single office you can travel to

Key terms behind this page, defined

Exchange of information
The treaty and multilateral machinery by which tax authorities share account and taxpayer data. It is why an unreported foreign account is a question of timing, not of discovery.
Clearance certificate
Confirmation that all amounts owing by a deceased person and their estate have been paid. Distributing without one exposes the representative personally.
Updated return
India's route to voluntarily correct or file late within a statutory window, on payment of additional tax and with limits on what it may do.
Expat
Everyday shorthand for someone living outside their home country. It has no tax meaning at all — residence, citizenship and domicile do the work, and conflating them is where these files start going wrong.
rc1 business number registration: The practitioner's note

Which accounts a foreign business needs depends on what it actually does in Canada — and opening a payroll account before deciding whether there is a permanent establishment can create obligations that a review would have avoided.

None of what follows shifts the terms. Scope and fee are settled in writing before anything is prepared, the result carries a named reviewer, and nothing is filed unseen.

Fixed fees around rc1 business number registration

The question worth paying for comes before the form: whether the activity in Canada creates a permanent establishment, and therefore which accounts should be opened at all. Opening payroll early creates obligations a review would have avoided. Where that review is needed it is scoped and quoted in writing on its own.

Corporate cross-border filing

$999fixed, before work starts

Covers: The corporate return and its cross-border schedules as one engagement, so the group files a consistent position everywhere.

See this fee page

Individual tax filing

$349fixed, before work starts

Covers: Personal returns for individuals, expats and non-residents — foreign income, foreign property and treaty relief handled in one engagement.

See this fee page

The difference a dedicated cross-border team makes

Residence is tested, not assumed

Where you are resident for treaty purposes is a question with a method. We work through it and write down the answer, with the facts it rests on.

One team, not two firms billing separately

You are not the go-between for two sets of advisers with two sets of assumptions. One engagement covers each country the file touches.

The fee is fixed before we start

Quoted from your documents and agreed in writing. The number you accept is the number you pay.

4 global offices

Meet us in person in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE, or send everything through the secure portal — the same process either way.

The firm’s founder at his desk in the Delhi office

From first call to filed return

Step 1

The opening call

We establish what happened and when, because every position here is anchored to a date

Step 2

Scope in writing

A written scope and a fixed price, so you know the cost before committing

Step 3

Prepared and checked

The filings are prepared, cross-checked against each other, and reviewed by name

Step 4

Filed, then supported

You see the result, approve it, and we file it

Two of the firm’s advisers and the team in the open-plan office

The engagement, start to finish

  • Step 1: Share your documents – A secure upload link arrives after the first call — send files in any state.
  • Step 2: A written fixed fee – The quote is fixed from what you send; it does not move once accepted.
  • Step 3: Preparation, both sides at once – The returns are drafted together, reconciled line against line.
  • Step 4: Approve, then file – Nothing is filed until you have seen it and approved it.

Quoted up front, in writing.

Contact Us 24-hour helpline +1 (416) 619-0068

Keep reading, sideways

Each of these carries its own guide, pricing pointers and FAQ.

Core services for this situation

Cross-border M&A tax due diligence The full guide to m&a tax, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Entity selection across borders Its own page: entity selection across borders — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Non-resident receiving a Canadian pension Everything on non-resident receiving Canadian pension, at the same depth as this page.
Relocation benefits & taxability Relocation benefits & taxability — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Indian company setting up in the US The full guide to Indian company setting up in the US, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Form 2553 — S-corporation election Its own page: form 2553 s corporation election — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Departure planning timelines Everything on departure planning timelines, at the same depth as this page.
Profit split method Profit split method — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Crypto on emigration from Canada The full guide to crypto on emigration from Canada, with the fee fixed before any work starts.

Who we bring this work to

Day traders — what you owe in each country The full guide to day traders what you owe in each country, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
IT contractors — your filing calendar Its own page: it contractors your filing calendar — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Food & beverage brands cross-border tax Everything on food & beverage brands cross border tax, at the same depth as this page.
Dropshipping businesses cross-border tax Dropshipping businesses cross border tax — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Mining & energy cross-border tax The full guide to mining & energy cross border tax, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
IT contractors — what you owe in each country Its own page: it contractors what you owe in each country — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Civil & structural engineers — your filing calendar Everything on civil & structural engineers your filing calendar, at the same depth as this page.
Influencers & content creators — what we charge Influencers & content creators what we charge — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Airline pilots — what you owe in each country The full guide to airline pilots what you owe in each country, with the fee fixed before any work starts.

Where our clients live and work

Sweden tax for expats — country guide The full guide to Sweden tax for expats, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
US–Spain tax corridor Its own page: US Spain tax — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Nepal tax for expats — country guide Everything on Nepal tax for expats, at the same depth as this page.
Taiwan tax for expats — country guide Taiwan tax for expats — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Qatar tax for expats — country guide The full guide to Qatar tax for expats, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Cyprus tax for expats — country guide Its own page: Cyprus tax for expats — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Estonia tax for expats — country guide Everything on Estonia tax for expats, at the same depth as this page.
Chile tax for expats — country guide Chile tax for expats — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
New Zealand tax for expats — country guide The full guide to New Zealand tax for expats, with the fee fixed before any work starts.

The people on your file

Five named practitioners, each with the part of a cross-border file they carry. Every page on this site says who reviewed it, and the reviewer is one of these people rather than an unnamed team.

Udit Gupta

Udit Gupta

Cross-Border Tax Expert

CA (ICAI), In-Depth Tax Trained

Reviews and signs off the practice's cross-border positions, and carries final responsibility for the treaty analysis on every file that leaves the office.

Abhinav Gupta

Abhinav Gupta

Canada Tax / International Tax

Canada Tax, International Tax, Cross-Border Tax, Transfer Pricing

Canadian returns with foreign income, non-resident filings, and the transfer-pricing documentation that runs alongside intercompany work.

Raghav Gupta

Raghav Gupta

International Tax

International Tax, Transfer Pricing Specialist

Benchmarking, method selection and the local-file and master-file sets that support a group's pricing policy under examination.

Anmol Mittal

Anmol Mittal

Canada and US tax

CPA Canada, CPA USA, CA (ICAI)

Files that have to be right on both sides of the border at once — dual filings, streamlined catch-ups, and the foreign tax credit reconciliation between them.

Vinayak Indolia

Vinayak Indolia

CFO advisory

CPA, CA. Fractional CFO and Senior Advisory Specialist

Groups that need the tax position and the finance function to agree: structure reviews, intercompany policy, and the reporting a board can act on.

Meet the whole team

Files that look like this one

Case study 1

Fifteen Per Cent Held Back From a Fee for Services in Canada

A payer must withhold from fees paid to a non-resident for services rendered in Canada, whether or not any tax is ultimately owed. A waiver applied for before the work is invoiced avoids the withholding; after it, the money comes back through a return.

Read how this one runs
Case study 2

Ten Years of Missed Returns Filed as One Engagement

Filing many years at once is a sequencing problem: carry-forwards, instalments and credits from the earliest year feed the latest. Filing them out of order is what turns a recoverable position into an assessed one.

Read how this one runs
Case study 3

A US LLC Owned From Canada

The two countries classify the vehicle differently, so relief that ought to apply frequently does not and the same profit can be taxed in both hands. The engagement examines whether the structure can be changed and what the change itself costs.

Read how this one runs
Case study 4

A Foreign Affiliate Return Filed Years Late

The reporting obligation on a company held abroad runs separately from the corporate return and carries its own exposure. The work is reconstructing the surplus position across the open years before any filing goes in.

Read how this one runs
Case study 5

Treaty Relief Claimed on a Cross-Border Estate

The estate article can extend a proportionate credit where the two systems would otherwise both tax the same asset. Claiming it requires a valuation and a disclosure the estate may not expect to make.

Read how this one runs
Case study 6

Paid for Work Done in Canada While Living Elsewhere

Employment carried out in Canada is taxable here even where the employer and the bank account are not. The engagement establishes how many of the days were worked in Canada, applies the treaty employment article, and deals with the withholding the payer has already taken.

Read how this one runs
Case study 7

A Home Kept in Canada After the Move Abroad

A dwelling left available is the tie the CRA weighs most heavily, and its treatment differs depending on whether it is rented at arm's length. The file settles the residence position first and the rental reporting second.

Read how this one runs
Case study 8

Two Passports, Two Returns, One Income

Dual citizenship does not let you choose which country taxes you. The work is establishing residence, applying the treaty article that governs each income type, and preparing both returns from one set of figures so they agree line for line.

Read how this one runs

All case studies — every published engagement in one place.

Core International & Cross-Border Tax Services

International Tax Planning & Advisory

Strategy and compliance for income, assets and families spread across borders.

One coordinating team: filings on every side of the border are sequenced so treaty relief and foreign tax credits are claimed once — and in the right country.

U.S. & Cross-Border Tax Returns

Dual filers: U.S. citizens in Canada and Canadians with U.S. income run two parallel systems — we prepare both, in the right order, every year.

Expat & Emigration Tax

The move year is its own project: the elections and valuations filed that year decide the next decade of both countries’ returns.

Non-Resident Canadian Tax

Default withholding is 25% of gross: elective returns routinely turn over-withheld rent and pensions into refunds.

Transfer Pricing & BEPS

Documentation prepared with the return is the cheapest insurance in international tax; reconstructing it during an audit is the most expensive.

Cross-Border Estates & Trusts

Wills drafted for one country routinely misfire in the other — deemed disposition here, estate tax there, credits in between.

Cross-Border Corporate Tax

Expansion raises the same four questions every time — entity, PE, repatriation, payroll. We answer them before the tax authorities do.

India Tax for NRIs & Returning Residents

The deduction is taken on the sale price, not the gain — which is why an NRI property sale strands cash unless the certificate is applied for before closing.

Canadian Tax with a Foreign Element

Residency is decided on facts, not on a form — and the year you arrive or leave is the one where the largest amounts turn on the smallest details.

UAE Tax for Expats & Their Home Country

A zero-tax country is only half the answer — the question that decides the bill is whether the country you came from still treats you as resident.

Industries & Client Types We Serve Worldwide

Global E-commerce & Marketplaces
Technology & SaaS
Professional Services Firms
Cross-Border Real Estate
Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers
Athletes, Artists & Entertainers
Remote Workers & Digital Nomads
Investment Funds & Holding Companies

Global E-commerce & Marketplaces

Cross-border tax for sellers shipping worldwide: marketplace withholding, foreign registrations and inventory nexus handled before they become audits.

Marketplaces withhold, remit and report in their own right, so the tax position of a single sale is decided by where the stock sat, where the buyer was and which platform collected — not by where the company is registered. We reconcile the platform's own filings against the returns before either is submitted.

  • Foreign VAT / GST / sales tax registrations
  • Marketplace withholding reviews
  • Inventory nexus & PE analysis
  • Multi-currency books reconciled
Explore E-commerce & Marketplaces

Technology & SaaS

  • Cross-border revenue sourcing & withholding
  • IP structuring with real substance
  • Equity for cross-border teams
  • U.S. expansion: entity & PE setup
Explore Technology & SaaS

Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers

  • Transfer pricing documentation (s.247)
  • Customs value vs transfer price
  • Foreign affiliate reporting (T1134)
  • Country-by-country reporting
Explore Trade & Manufacturing

Athletes, Artists & Entertainers

  • Reg 105 & U.S. CWA agreements
  • Multi-state & country calendars
  • Touring income allocation
  • Royalty & image-rights withholding
Explore Athletes & Entertainers

Remote Workers & Digital Nomads

  • Residency analysis before moving
  • Employer payroll exposure
  • Totalization & social security
  • Foreign tax credits
Explore Remote Workers

Investment Funds & Holding Companies

  • Treaty access & PPT reviews
  • FAPI & surplus computations
  • Withholding-efficient routing
  • Governance & substance
Explore Funds & Holdcos

Form RC1 — questions we are asked

Do I file Form RC1 even if no tax is owed?

Identifier or registration obligations of this kind are generally required on the facts rather than on the tax result, so a nil position does not remove one. New Canadian businesses and foreign businesses acquiring Canadian filing, payroll or sales-tax obligations.

What happens if I have missed Form RC1 for several years?

Missed years are dealt with as a package rather than one at a time, because the route chosen for the first year affects the relief available for the rest. We map the years and the obligations before anything is filed.

Is Form RC1 the same as the other reports I already file?

No. Registers a business number and the CRA programme accounts a business needs. Satisfying a different obligation, even one covering the same accounts or entity, does nothing for this one.

How does the treaty tie-breaker work when both countries say I am resident?

As a sequence, stopping at the first test that gives an answer: where you have a permanent home available; if in both or neither, where your centre of vital interests is; then habitual abode; then nationality; and if all of those tie, the two tax authorities decide by agreement. It is evidential rather than elective — you do not choose your treaty residence, you demonstrate it, which makes the record of homes, family and time the substance of the claim. See tie-breaking dual residency.

Do Canada and the United States share tax information?

Yes, through more than one channel. The treaty has an exchange-of-information article that supports both routine and on-request exchange. Separately, an intergovernmental agreement has Canadian financial institutions identify US-reportable accounts and report them to the CRA, which passes them to the IRS, with the reverse flow for Canadian residents. Most other country pairs use the Common Reporting Standard for the same purpose. See FATCA reporting.

How does cross-border tax planning work?

It starts with facts rather than structures: which countries have a claim on you, what each one taxes, and where the two overlap. From there the decisions are about order and timing — which country taxes first, where relief is claimed, and whether a filing or a certificate has to be in place before money moves rather than after. Most of the value is in the sequencing, because relief claimed late is usually relief recovered slowly. See international tax planning.

Fixed fee agreed before we start

Get Form RC1 handled for a fixed fee

Send us the facts. You will get a scope and a fixed fee in writing, and nothing starts until you agree to both.

  • A named reviewer signs off every filing
  • Offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE
  • Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars on Google

Our practitioners are alumni of leading accounting and tax institutions

Where our partners studied — CPA Canada (In-Depth Tax Program), AICPA, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the Malaysian Institute of Accountants.

Request a Quote +1 (416) 619-0068