Scientific Research & Experimental Development Tax Incentive

SR&ED Program

Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) is a tax incentive program in Canada. This program is administered by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and is designed to encourage Canadian businesses of all sizes and in all sectors to conduct Research and Development (R&D) in Canada. Crowe MacKay’s SR&ED team is made up of Technical Specialists, Financial Specialists, and Tax Specialists, who have significant experience in the Engineering, Life Sciences, and Information Technology sectors.

Our SR&ED Team begins with us putting your company’s success a priority of ours.

We take the time to learn about your business, your team, and the key drivers that make your operations successful. We then use this knowledge to establish a foundation to prepare your SR&ED claim. In order for us to prepare a strong SR&ED claim, we must understand how your business works to develop a claim that is driven by the functions and actions of your business. From the data, we gain a better understanding of what SR&ED projects exist and what should be claimed. We also identify any weaknesses in your documentation per our information gathering process and work together to strengthen your claim.

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We offer a free 30-minute consultation to answer questions or discuss any concerns.

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SR&ED Benefits

Once SR&ED work has been determined by our specialists, you may be eligible to receive benefits in the form of a refundable Investment Tax Credit (ITC), a reduction of taxes payable, or both. The federal and provincial tax credits you receive may be as high as 64% of salary-based eligible expenditures.

Industries we Specialize in:

Agriculture and Agri-food

Aviation

Biotechnology

Construction and Engineering

Consumer Products

Diagnostics

Energy and Natural Resources

Environmental Sciences

Food and Beverage

Life Science

Manufacturing

Marine Engineering

Medical and Healthcare Professionals

Mining

Pharmaceuticals

Oil and Gas

Professional Services Firms

Technology

Veterinary Medicine

Our SR&ED Services

Intellectual Property Consulting

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Intellectual Property Consulting

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SR&ED Claim Process

Identifying qualifying activities and expenditures

We can assist you with improving project identification methodologies. Our SR&ED consultants will work with you to train your team on implementing project identification strategies and documentation requirements.

Preparing claims

Our team can assist you with all of your SR&ED considerations.

Some examples of this support include:

Assistance with gathering required information to support the SR&ED claim and develop the framework for the projects being claimed
Development of accurate project descriptions
Review of your own taxpayer prepared SR&ED claim and provide feedback
Assistance with filing your SR&ED claim and amend previous tax filings if required

CRA compliance

When submitting a SR&ED claim it’s important it is compliant with CRA’s application process and meets the required terms of eligibility. Our experts can assist you in gathering the required information to support your SR&ED claim and develop the framework for the projects being claimed.

In some circumstances, a business may face discrepancies between their claim and CRA’s eligibility requirements. Our team can help you negotiate and resolve disputes with the CRA to ensure you receive the maximum return on your SR&ED claim.

CRA uses their “Five Questions” to determine the SR&ED eligibility. The Five Questions are:

Was there a scientific or a technological uncertainty?

Did the effort involve formulating hypotheses specifically aimed at reducing or eliminating that uncertainty?

Was the overall approach adopted consistent with a systematic investigation or search, including formulating and testing the hypotheses by means of experiment or analysis?