Key takeaways
- A non-resident registers for Canadian GST/HST using Form RC1, submitted to a single dedicated CRA unit — Non-Resident Registration and Security, Atlantic Tax Centre, 275 Pope Road, Summerside PE C1N 6A2 — by mail, by fax at 1-519-971-2011, or online for a Business Number and program accounts.
- The form requires a Canadian street address that can receive registered mail; this is the single requirement where a Toronto or Vancouver virtual address in Canada Post Unit/# format resolves the problem cleanly for an entity with no Canadian premises.
- A security deposit is generally required for non-residents who do not have a permanent physical establishment in Canada — and providing a Canadian mailing address does not, by itself, create that establishment, so the address and the deposit are two separate determinations.
- This article covers the non-resident registration procedure only; the resident $30,000 small supplier threshold and voluntary-registration math are a different case handled in the small-business GST/HST guide.
Scope note. This is the non-resident registration procedure — Form RC1, the dedicated CRA unit, the address, the security deposit. The $30,000 small supplier threshold, the input-tax-credit math for voluntary registration, and resident filing-period elections are a separate case covered in Do You Need to Register for GST/HST? A Guide for Canadian Small Businesses. If you are a Canadian-resident business, read that one — this article does not repeat the threshold analysis.
Short answer
A non-resident business that makes taxable supplies in Canada registers for GST/HST by filing Form RC1, Request for a Business Number and Certain Program Accounts. Unlike a resident registration — which can go through Business Registration Online to any CRA processing centre — a non-resident registration is routed to one dedicated unit at the Atlantic Tax Centre in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, and a security deposit is generally required when the business has no permanent physical establishment in Canada.
Two things on the form trip up non-residents specifically: the form asks for a Canadian address that can receive registered CRA mail (a foreign head-office address does not satisfy this), and the security-deposit determination turns on whether the business has a fixed Canadian place of business — which a mailing address alone does not create. The rest of this article walks through both, plus the three submission paths and the supporting documents.
Form RC1 and where the non-resident registration is sent
Per the Canada Revenue Agency, a non-resident registers using Form RC1, Request for a Business Number and Certain Program Accounts (with Form RC1A for the GST/HST program account where applicable), and a non-resident registration is handled by a dedicated CRA unit rather than a general processing centre. The three submission paths CRA states are:
| Path | Destination / number | When it fits |
|---|---|---|
| By mail | Non-Resident Registration and Security, Atlantic Tax Centre, 275 Pope Road, Summerside PE C1N 6A2 | When you are registering for multiple program accounts at once or are mailing a security deposit instrument with the form |
| By fax | 1-519-971-2011 | Faster than mail; the standard path for a completed RC1 when no physical instrument is enclosed |
| Online | Business Registration Online — for a Business Number and program accounts | When the non-resident registration is straightforward and supported in the online flow |
The mailing address is the single CRA address point most non-resident guides get vague about — it is not your local Tax Services Office and not a Toronto or Vancouver address. It is the Non-Resident Registration and Security unit at the Atlantic Tax Centre, 275 Pope Road, Summerside PE C1N 6A2. Mail the RC1 — and any security instrument — there; this article quotes the address directly from CRA rather than paraphrasing it, because a misrouted RC1 with a security deposit attached is one of the slowest things to unwind.
CRA also requires supporting material with the non-resident registration: proof of non-residency and official corporate identification documents (the foreign incorporation or formation documents that establish the entity). The exact identification set depends on the entity type and home jurisdiction, so the CRA non-resident GST/HST registration page is the authoritative source if your entity structure does not match the common corporate case — see the CRA general information for GST/HST registrants.
The security deposit — when a non-resident has to post one
This is the part of non-resident registration that has no resident equivalent. CRA's stated rule is that a security deposit is generally required for non-residents who do not have a permanent physical establishment in Canada.
The logic is collection risk. A resident registrant has Canadian assets and a Canadian presence the CRA can reach if GST/HST goes unremitted. A non-resident with no fixed Canadian place of business does not, so CRA requires security as a condition of registration. The practical points that follow from the rule as CRA states it:
- The deposit requirement keys on whether you have a permanent physical establishment in Canada — a fixed place of business such as an office, branch, or other premises through which the business operates. It does not key on revenue size the way the resident threshold does.
- Where a permanent establishment in Canada does exist, the security requirement generally does not apply on the same basis — the establishment itself is the Canadian nexus CRA was securing against.
- The amount and the acceptable instrument (the form the security takes) are set by CRA based on the registrant's situation; this article does not state a figure, because the amount is a CRA determination tied to projected net tax and is not a fixed published number you can plan around in advance. Treat it as a real line item, get the figure from CRA at registration, and budget for it before you file.
The reason the security deposit and the address are explained in two separate sections here — rather than collapsed together — is the next section: a Canadian mailing address satisfies the form's address requirement without creating the permanent physical establishment that would change the security analysis. Conflating the two is the single most common non-resident error.
What a virtual address does — and does not — do for a non-resident registrant
This is the precise distinction the rest of the page builds toward, and it has two halves that have to be kept apart.
What it does. Form RC1 requires a Canadian address that can receive registered CRA mail — Notices of Assessment, security correspondence, and program updates all arrive on paper at that address. A foreign head-office address does not satisfy this; CRA's deliverability and registered-mail test is the same one applied to a registered office on a Canadian incorporation filing. A Toronto or Vancouver virtual address in proper Canada Post Unit/# format passes that test the same way a leased suite does — this is where the address question has a clean, CRA-ready answer, and it is the half of the problem a virtual mailbox solves outright.
What it does not do. A Canadian mailing address does not, by itself, create a permanent physical establishment for the purpose of the security-deposit determination. Whether a non-resident has a permanent establishment in Canada is a separate test based on where the business has a fixed place through which it operates, where management decisions are made, and where employees work — not on which address receives the mail. Providing a Canadian virtual address so CRA can deliver registered correspondence does not convert a non-resident into a business with a Canadian establishment, and it should not be expected to remove a security requirement that exists because no such establishment is present.
Said plainly: the virtual address solves the form's address field and the registered-mail problem completely, and it is deliberately neutral on the permanent-establishment / security question — which is the correct outcome, because a registrant who wants the address to also dissolve the deposit is misreading what the deposit secures. The two requirements are independent by design, and a non-resident registration that respects that separation is the one that processes without a follow-up letter from the Summerside unit.
What this article does not cover — the resident threshold case
To keep the non-resident procedure clean, three resident-side topics are deliberately out of scope here and live in the small-business guide:
- The $30,000 small supplier threshold — how it is measured over a single quarter or four consecutive quarters, what counts toward it, and what does not.
- Voluntary registration before the threshold — the input-tax-credit math that decides whether a resident should register early.
- Resident filing-period elections — annual vs. quarterly vs. monthly reporting once registered.
All three are covered in Do You Need to Register for GST/HST? A Guide for Canadian Small Businesses. A non-resident who later establishes Canadian operations and starts asking threshold and ITC questions should switch to that article — it is the authority for the resident case, and this page intentionally does not duplicate it.
Two adjacent non-resident steps that do sit alongside this one: the corporate-banking step, where the same Canadian-address rule reappears with bank-specific documentation — see How to Open a Canadian Business Bank Account as a Non-Resident — and the broader entry-mode question of which Canadian addresses a foreign entity needs in total, covered in Foreign Company Canada Address: The 4 Address Types You Need. The GST/HST address is one slot inside that larger map.
How a virtual mailbox fits the non-resident registration
For a non-resident with no Canadian premises, a Toronto or Vancouver virtual mailbox in Canada Post Unit/# format gives the registration a single Canadian address that:
- Satisfies the RC1 address field — a deliverable Canadian street address that receives registered CRA mail, not a foreign head-office address and not a PO Box (PO boxes are rejected because registered mail cannot be delivered to them).
- Receives the security correspondence the Summerside unit sends on paper, with same-day scanning — relevant because security and assessment letters carry response windows and a notice sitting unscanned for two weeks can quietly become a missed deadline.
- Stays consistent with the same address used on a Canadian incorporation or extra-provincial filing and on the non-resident bank account, removing the address-mismatch flags that slow non-resident processing.
- Is Canadian-owned and operated, which keeps the whole non-resident setup on a single Canadian provider rather than a foreign reshipping layer.
The one thing it deliberately does not do is change the permanent-establishment analysis — and for a non-resident registrant that neutrality is the right behaviour, as the security section explained. Auteur's Toronto and Vancouver addresses are built for exactly this single-address use across the RC1 file, the corporate filing, and the bank account. (Reserve a Toronto or Vancouver address.)
FAQ
How do I register my CRA account for a non-resident? A non-resident registers using Form RC1, Request for a Business Number and Certain Program Accounts. The completed form goes to the dedicated CRA unit — Non-Resident Registration and Security, Atlantic Tax Centre, 275 Pope Road, Summerside PE C1N 6A2 — by mail, or by fax at 1-519-971-2011, or you can register online for a Business Number and program accounts. The registration must include proof of non-residency and official corporate identification documents, and a security deposit is generally required if the business has no permanent physical establishment in Canada.
Where do I send my documents to CRA? For a non-resident GST/HST registration, documents go to the Non-Resident Registration and Security unit at the Atlantic Tax Centre, 275 Pope Road, Summerside PE C1N 6A2 — not to a local Tax Services Office and not to a Toronto or Vancouver address. The faster alternative for a completed RC1 with no physical security instrument enclosed is fax at 1-519-971-2011. If you are mailing a security deposit instrument, send it to the same Summerside address so it stays attached to the registration.
Can a non-resident register a business in Canada? Yes. A non-resident can register for a Canadian Business Number and a GST/HST account on Form RC1, and a non-resident does not need to be a Canadian resident to do so. What the registration requires is a Canadian street address that can receive registered CRA mail, proof of non-residency, official corporate identification, and — where there is no permanent physical establishment in Canada — a security deposit. A Canadian virtual address in Canada Post Unit/# format satisfies the address requirement; it does not by itself create the permanent establishment that would change the security determination.
Do non-residents have to pay GST? A non-resident that makes taxable supplies in Canada and is registered for GST/HST collects and remits GST/HST on those supplies the same way a resident registrant does. Registration is what creates the collect-and-remit obligation; the resident $30,000 small supplier threshold that decides when registration becomes mandatory is a separate question covered in the small-business GST/HST guide. The non-resident-specific addition is the security deposit, which secures the remittance obligation when there is no Canadian permanent establishment.
Bottom line
Non-resident GST/HST registration is a different procedure from the resident case, not a variation of it. It runs on Form RC1, routes to one dedicated unit at the Atlantic Tax Centre in Summerside PE, and carries a security deposit whenever there is no permanent physical establishment in Canada. The address requirement and the security requirement are independent: a Canadian street address satisfies the form's registered-mail test completely, and it deliberately does not dissolve a deposit that exists because no Canadian establishment is present.
A Toronto or Vancouver virtual address in Canada Post Unit/# format closes the address half of that cleanly — the CRA-ready, Canadian-owned answer to the RC1 address field — while staying correctly neutral on the permanent-establishment question. Reserve a Toronto or Vancouver address and the same address carries across the RC1 file, a Canadian incorporation or extra-provincial filing, and the non-resident bank account, so every CRA notice from the Summerside unit lands the same day it hits the mailroom.