Proposal to establish single business registration number for Canadian corporate taxpayers.

On May 25, 1993, Tax Executives Institute submitted the following comments to Revenue Canada - Customs, Excise and Taxation on a government proposal to establish a single business registration number for corporations. The submission was prepared under the aegis of the Institute's Vice President-region I, J. Lawrence Martin of Mobil Oil Canada, and its Canadian Income Tax Committee, whose chair is Vincent Alicandri of Xerox Canada Limited. Revenue Canada's response is reprinted elsewhere in this issue.

On behalf of Tax Executives Institute, I am pleased to submit the following comments on the proposal to establish a single business registration number (SBRN) for corporations.

Background

Tax Executives Institute is an international organization of approximately 4,800 professionals who are responsible - in an executive, administrative, or managerial capacity - for the tax affairs of the corporations and other businesses by which they are employed. TEI's members represent more than 2,400 of the leading corporations in Canada and the United States.

Canadians make up approximately 10 percent of TEI's membership, with our Canadian members belonging to chapters in Calgary, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver which together make up one of our nine geographic regions. In addition, a substantial number of our U.S. members work for companies with significant Canadian operations. In sum, TEI's membership includes representatives from most major industries, including manufacturing, distributing, wholesaling, and retailing; real estate; transportation; financial; and resource (including timber and integrated oil companies). The comments set forth in this submission reflect the views of the Institute as a whole but more particularly those of our Canadian constituency.

Participation By Large

Corporations

TEI understands that the SBRN will initially be offered to new businesses and that, after initial testing of the system at eight sites in 1993-1994, the system will be implemented nationally. Hence, existing businesses will be asked whether they want to switch to the SBRN system. We commend Revenue Canada for taking this elective approach and affording taxpayers the option of participating in

the SBRN rather than mandating their participation in the new program.

TEI recommends that large corporations be included in the testing process. We also recommend that the government establish a joint Taxpayer/ Government Task Force to address the myriad of issues...