Which federal forms might a non-resident buyer of a Canadian business have to file?

No single federal form covers a non-resident buyer. Three separate regimes can each call for a filing, and each depends on the facts of the deal and of the buyer’s group. This page names the form each provision points to and the condition attached. It does not say which of them applies to you, and it leaves out the seller’s filings, which are a different question. For the seller-residence check, see proof the seller is a Canadian resident.

Investment Canada Act notice or application

Section 12 of the Investment Canada Act says that, for an investment subject to notification, the non-Canadian gives notice to the Director at any time before the investment is implemented or within thirty days after. Section 5 of the Regulations says the notice is in writing, contains the information in Schedule I and is sent to the Director. ISED’s home page, as captured on 11 October 2026, says the Act applies to all non-Canadians who acquire control of an existing Canadian business or wish to establish a new one, and that they must submit either a notification or an application for review unless a specific exemption applies. Which one applies is a separate test, explained in the notification glossary entry. ISED’s forms page, as captured on 10 August 2025, offers a mandatory notification or application form and a separate voluntary notification form for investments not subject to the mandatory filing.

CRA form T106

Under section 233.1(2) of the Income Tax Act, and subject to the de minimis exception in section 233.1(4), a reporting person must file, by its filing-due date, an information return for each non-resident person with whom it does not deal at arm’s length, covering the reportable transactions between them. A reporting person is one resident in Canada, or a non-resident that carries on a business in Canada other than as a member of a partnership. The CRA calls the return form T106. Its de minimis policy page says that where a taxpayer’s total transactions with a particular non-resident are below the CRA’s individual threshold, it need not report them in Part III of the T106 slip, but must still file the T106 to report other information. This matters only where the buyer or its Canadian company has such dealings.

GST/HST election and business number

Under section 167(1.1) of the Excise Tax Act, the election has effect where the recipient of a business, if a registrant, files the joint election with the Minister by the deadline stated there or a later day the Minister determines on application. The election is open under section 167(1) only where the recipient acquires all or substantially all of the property needed to carry on the business, and not where the supplier is a registrant and the recipient is not. The CRA says you need a business number if you need a GST/HST, payroll or another CRA program account, or if you incorporate your business.