How long will it take to process my claim?

If you qualify for a refund, your complete claim can usually be processed within 120 days of the CRA receiving it.

Will the CRA try to reduce my claim?

No. It may turn out that parts of your claim do not qualify but that is not their purpose

Will my entire business be audited if I make a claim?

No. The purpose of the SR&ED review is only to examine information relating to your SR&ED claim, not to examine other aspects of your business.

What expenditures qualify?

You can claim many of the costs incurred for SR&ED during your fiscal year. These costs may include:

• wages for staff doing the SR&ED work;
• costs of materials used in performing SR&ED;
• costs of new machinery and equipment purchased for SR&ED;
• costs of SR&ED contracted out;
• lease costs (excluding building leases, or rent);
• third-party payments to organizations such as universities and colleges;
• certain overhead costs related to SR&ED, or a proxy for these costs.

Some work does not qualify, such as market research, research in humanities or social sciences, quality control and work done outside of Canada.

Will my company’s work qualify?

If you are a Canadian small business that develops new or improved materials, products, or processes in Canada, you may be eligible to receive refunds for SR&ED if:

• you have to try to overcome one or more technological problems;
• you have to conduct trials, experiments, or analyses to solve these problems;
• you required experience or technologies not commonly available to your company to solve these problems; and
• your work will result in a technological advancement. Even if your attempts prove unsuccessful, you may still qualify.

You must also demonstrate that the work was done. You can use reports, models, prototypes, test results, logbooks, or photographs to help support your claim.

Research & Development tax credit eligible activities are:

• experiments and analysis;
• design, analysis, data collection, and research;
• technical support (but not for customers);
• preparing technical documentation for internal use;
• preparing equipment & materials (but not maintenance); and
• direct supervision of employees.

What does not qualify?

• sales, promotion, marketing and advertising;
• business plan preparation;
• customer support;
• user documentation;
• reporting to shareholders; and
• other non-technical functions.