The government has been working hard to stabilize the economy following the effects of COVID-19, but many members of the tech community have been left out of their support measures. Organizations like MaRS and the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance have been doing a great job working to advocate on behalf of tech start-ups. However, it’s clear now that outsourcing advocacy to third parties isn’t good enough, given how quickly things are changing. We’ve been receiving many ideas from colleagues and friends in the tech community on how the government should act, and want to distill that and add to the voices out there to cause positive change. With that in mind, we hosted an event with Crestview Strategy, to share ideas, discuss the current landscape and what we can do to affect it. Crestview Strategy is a public relations consultancy. By nature of their work, Crestview Strategy is in constant […]
SR&ED
On March 19, the Liberal government announced the details of the 2019 Federal budget. One of the big surprises in the budget was the announcement that the program will be enhanced for CCPC going forward. Buried in the various innovation announcements, the government announced a change to the rules around accessing the 35% enhanced ITC rate for SR&ED. For fiscal years ending after March 31, 2019, the enhanced rate will be accessible to all CCPC regardless of taxable income, but still subject to taxable capital rules. This change is specifically aimed at growing Canadian companies who have exceeded the $800,000 taxable income threshold which previously eliminated access to the enhanced ITC rate. Now companies can continue to scale up their companies without handicapping their ability to generate a profit. This initiative by the government is welcome, as it puts Canadian companies in a stronger position to compete globally and incentivize […]
Subcontractors who are Canadian (i.e. companies operating in Canada), or individuals in Canada hired on a subcontract basis and are performing SR&ED eligible work, can be claimed under the program. The difference between subcontractors and employees is simply the refund rate. Through the program, a higher return rate is applied to salaried employees versus subcontractors. There is another scenario involving subcontractors that people mistakenly think is a loophole to be exploited. In some cases, a company will hire a Canadian subcontractor (typically a company) to perform some SR&ED eligible development on their behalf. The Canadian subcontractor then outsources this work offshore. Some outsourcing companies present this as a way to win business as they can lower their costs to the client, while still allowing the client to claim SR&ED on their work. In fact, this is not a loophole, and is something that the CRA accounted for long ago. Through a directive, that […]