Digging for SRED Gold: The Informational Nuggets your SRED Consultant is Looking for

Product developers and engineers tend to have a certain vocabulary or frame of reference when it comes to their product development processes, which can vary slightly from industry to industry. These terms or concepts are commonly understood and form the background jargon for the work. However, these common industry phrases can be quite different from…

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Changes to SR&ED Tax Credit in 2019 Federal Budget Enables Increased Investment in Innovation

What is SR&ED? Canada’s Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credit incentive program provides more than $3 billion in tax incentives to over 20,000 claimants annually. It is the single largest federal program that supports business research and development (R&D) in Canada. SR&ED provides small and medium-sized CCPCs (Canadian controlled public corporations) with an…

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F is for Failure but Positive for SRED

Companies are typically not in the habit of rewarding employees for failing. In fact, whole teams of people can lose their jobs over a failed project. However, failure during the scientific research and experimental development process of your company’s work is extremely useful for your SRED claim. From the SR&ED tax credit perspective, failure means…

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Reduce Risk of SR&ED Audit by Answering 5 Questions in Claim Write-up

The CRA pre-screens SR&ED claims, to decide which ones to audit, through computer screening, where artificial intelligence indicates projects for review based on red flags encountered via their predetermined set of risk management algorithms, or human assessment. Sometimes, claims are randomly selected for review. Since the computer and random options are automated, let’s look at…

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What Technical & Technological Uncertainty Mean in SR&ED

Many highly hopeful researchers, developers, innovators and engineers confuse these two terms … technical uncertainty and technological uncertainty. We already tackled the confusion around technological uncertainty and system level uncertainty involved in the SR&ED process in our article Technological vs System Uncertainty in SR&ED Claims. SR&ED is About the Journey not the Destination One of…

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Technological vs System Uncertainty in SR&ED Claims

On March 31, 2015, Judge D’Auray from the Tax Court of Canada in Montreal rendered a ruling that set a precedent for what constitutes “uncertainty” under the CRA’s SR&ED tax credit guidelines. Her ruling also highlighted the role different levels of uncertainty can have on an assessor’s review of a case. Prior to Judge D’Auray’s…

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Enhanced Incentives for Businesses Conducting SR&ED in Ontario

The Ontario government’s 2018 budget included increased provincial funding through the Scientific Research & Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax incentive program. This increased funding is aimed at helping businesses engaged in scientific research and experimental development in Ontario drastically reduce costs associated with research and development, and consequently grow their business. Ontario’s SR&ED tax incentive program…

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SRED Unlimited On the Road

  SRED Unlimited will be attending the following events.   Hope to see you there!     Event #1: 2018 Joint Ontario-on-a-Chip and TOeP Symposium (Hosted by: University of Toronto) Date: Thurs, May 24 & Fri, May 25 Where: University of Toronto   Event #2: 20th Annual Rotman Lifelong Learning Conference for Managers and Executives…

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Ontario Budget 2018 Makes Practical Tax Changes for Breweries

In the 2018 Ontario Budget released in March, the Ontario Government announced proposed changes to the Small Beer Manufacturers’ Tax Credit. On Monday (Apr 9), Ontario’s Minister of Finance, Charles Sousa, highlighted some of those proposed changes and what they would mean for Ontario’s small breweries in a more practical way. What’s the Big Deal…

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SR&ED Uncertainty and SR&ED Advancement: 2 Key Components

Two key criteria for SR&ED eligibility are the presence of Technological Uncertainties and Technological Advancements. When faced with the former, a company presses on in hope of the latter. But that definition is very relative, short, and not terribly comprehensive, so let’s explore more exact definitions of the meaning of Technological Uncertainties and Technological Advancements.…

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CATA Reaffirms Support For Impartially Administered Innovation Incentives

To ring in the new year, the key Canadian industry association CATAAlliance (Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance, or CATA) reaffirmed its support for Canadian innovation by calling on the Federal government to bolster existing tax-based innovation incentive programs. Their release constitutes an update of policy positions. They argue that it is more important to fix systems…

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How Doctors Benefit From SR&ED Tax Credits

There are many doctors and medical companies, including clients of SR&ED Unlimited, that have successfully made Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) claims and received credits or refunds as part of this tax incentive program. Though the CRA always seems to be tightening up (or making more confusing) the criteria for what SR&ED claims they…

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Getting Back On Track With SR&ED

Now more than ever the CRA is cracking down on SR&ED claims. Even if you haven’t done anything wrong, they’re making it more difficult to claim SR&ED refunds and credits. To SR&ED applicants, the rules seem convoluted, vague, a cloud of grey zone uncertainty. Being one of those companies whose claim has been reduced or completely disqualified is pretty frustrating, and…

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New Year’s Tip: Acceptance vs Eligibility

It’s a new year and it helps to go into it with a clear head. If you can get past one common point of confusion, then your 2015 could turn out that much brighter. Common misconception: Accepted as filed = SR&ED-eligible work Since the process of claiming SR&ED appears labyrinthine and frustrating to the layperson,…

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