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You have until 18 months from the end of the tax year from when your qualifying scientific research & experimental development (SR&ED) costs were incurred to file a claim to be eligible for the tax credit.
However, SR&ED deadlines are very strict. Miss it and you’re likely to lose thousands in potential tax credits.
While the 18-month period seems substantial, it’s usually the reason why some companies slip off. With Grant Fund Pro, we’ll make sure you make the June 30th deadline - no exceptions!
What is the SR&ED deadline? And why does it matter?
What is SR&ED?
The Scientific Research and Experimental Development Tax Incentive Program, administered by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), is one of Canada's largest incentives for businesses in all industry sectors conducting research & development.
With over $4.2 billion in tax credits provided to businesses annually, SR&ED is a program you cannot miss when doing R&D work in Canada.
SR&ED helps companies recover 15% to 35% of eligible research & development costs and an additional provincial funding of up to 30% through tax credits and deductions.
Under the SR&ED Program, you can get an investment tax credit in the form of a cash refund or a reduction of tax payable (or both!)
When is the SR&ED deadline?
Generally, a SR&ED claim should be filed along with your income tax return. For companies, that is no later than 6 months after the tax year ends.
However, you can still file a claim within 12 months after the tax return filing due date or 18 months after your fiscal year end.
This means that if your tax year end is on December 31, 2024, you have until June 30, 2025 to file your income tax return and until June 30, 2026 to file or make amendments to your SR&ED claim.
What happens if you miss the SR&ED deadline?
If you don’t file your claim within the 18-month period, you will no longer be entitled to receive the SR&ED incentives for that expenditure. This means potentially losing out on thousands of dollars in tax credits.
How to know if you’re eligible for SR&ED?
To qualify for SR&ED, there are two requirements you must meet:
- Technological advancement. Your work must be conducted for the creation of new knowledge that pushes the understanding of science or technology forward.
- Systematic investigation. The way you carry out your work must include the following steps:
- Defining a problem
- Advancing a hypothesis towards resolving that problem
- Planning and testing the hypothesis by experiment or analysis
- Developing logical conclusions based on the results
In addition, the of your SR&ED work is also important to be eligible.
Your project must be geared towards acquiring new knowledge to overcome a scientific or technological uncertainty that existed at the start of the project.
We’re not a lab or a manufacturing company, do we still qualify for SR&ED?
Absolutely. SR&ED isn’t limited to labs or manufacturers.
In fact, approximately 33% of credits have already gone to small businesses, many of which are working on product development, internal process improvements, and more.
As long as your project meets the qualifications above, you may still qualify.
How to file a SR&ED claim before the deadline
At Grant Fund Pro, we always strive to stay on top of things - especially important deadlines. For all our claims, we often start with building out a step-by-step process (which we recommend that you do too!) to avoid the rush down the line.
Our process involves:
- An initial assessment or discovery phase;
- A project/cost identification phase;
- Preparation phase;
- Technical documentation phase;
- Compilation phase;
- Finalization phase;and
- SR&ED submission.
Don’t miss the June 30 SR&ED deadline
With only a few weeks away from the deadline, save yourself and your team from doing all the work piecing all your 2024 R&D projects together. Remember, if you miss the filing deadline, there is no appeals process.
At Grant Fund Pro, we can take care of tracking your SR&ED deadlines, compiling documentation, and preparing CRA-ready claims. This way, you can continue focusing on your 2026 business goals. Reach out to us today or book a call with our experts to get started.
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