Overview
SR&ED is a federal tax incentive administered by the Canada Revenue Agency. It is meant to encourage businesses to carry out scientific research and experimental development in Canada. The claim is filed with the income tax return. Where the work and the expenditures qualify, it can support a deduction against income and an investment tax credit.
The CRA decides both questions. Building a new feature, or making a product easier to produce, does not qualify on its own. The work has to be done in Canada. It has to seek a scientific or technological advancement, and it has to be a systematic investigation or search carried out by experiment or analysis. Market research, sales promotion, and routine testing or quality control are examples of work the program excludes.
Preliminary eligibility assessments
Before a claim is drafted, we look at the project against those requirements: whether there was a scientific or technological uncertainty, and whether the work was a systematic investigation. That discussion is an assessment. It is not a ruling.
Since April 2026 the CRA has also offered an optional pre-claim approval for some smaller Canadian businesses, so they can ask about a project before the work starts. We can tell you whether that process is worth raising with the CRA. It is not open to every business, an approval is the CRA's decision, and the claim still has to be filed.
- An early read of the project against the CRA's requirements
- A plain account of work that is unlikely to qualify
- Guidance on whether to ask the CRA about pre-claim approval
Potentially eligible activities and expenditures
We help separate work that may meet the definition from work the Income Tax Act excludes. Where an activity may qualify, we look at the related costs the CRA allows claimants to consider. Those can include salaries and wages for work done in Canada, materials consumed or transformed, and certain contract payments. Whether a particular cost can be claimed depends on the facts.
- Activities sorted into what may qualify and what may not
- Salaries, materials and contract costs tied to that work
- Costs left out where the link to the project is not there
Claim preparation and supporting documentation
A claim needs a description of the work and a calculation of the expenditures, filed with the income tax return. We help assemble that file: what was uncertain, what was tested, and what was spent. You remain responsible for the claim.
- A description of the uncertainty and the work done to resolve it
- Expenditure schedules prepared from the accounting records
- The supporting documents gathered with the claim
Technical and financial information
The technical account and the accounting records have to describe the same project. We work from the technical information your own staff provide and from the books. We do not replace the people who did the research.
- Technical notes supplied by the people who did the work
- Financial records lined up with those notes
- Gaps flagged before the claim is filed
CRA questions and reviews
If the CRA reviews the claim, we help you answer their questions and organise what they ask to see. Once you authorise us, we can discuss the claim with the CRA. You stay responsible for it.
- A response to the CRA's questions about the claim
- Documents organised for a review meeting
- Discussion with the CRA after you have authorised us
How a claim comes together
We start with the project, not with a form. The credit, if any, is decided later by the CRA.
Hear the project
You describe the uncertainty and what was tried. We say, in plain terms, where the CRA's tests may or may not be met.
Sort the work and the costs
Eligible-looking activities are separated from excluded work, and the related expenditures are taken from the records.
Prepare the claim with the return
The technical description and the expenditure figures are assembled and filed with the income tax return.
Respond if the CRA writes
If the CRA asks questions or reviews the claim, we help you answer, once you have authorised us to speak with them.