The 2016 by the Liberal government has enacted new provisions for innovation and green technology. This government has re-emphasized that innovation is a key driver of the economy, and must invest in order to become and world leader in technology creation. To achieve this objective, the government has targeted investment to 4 specific streams to boost innovation. Entrepreneurship – Extended investment through enhanced funding for incubators and accelerators, internships, apprenticeships and immigration policy. By 2017-18, the government has promised to provide funding of $150 million dollars. Science and Technology – Increasing funding for academia, federal laboratories and related foundations. Aggregate funding between 2016-18 will increase funding by approximately $1.75 billion dollars. Innovation Infrastructure – Increased funding to the NRC – IRAP and development agencies across Canada. IRAP in particular is earmarked to receive an additional $50 million dollars in 2016-17. Commercialization and Growth – Scaling the mandates of BDC, EDC […]
SR&ED
The majority of SR&ED claims submitted are accepted without being subjected to a detailed review. In these cases, the claim is considered “accepted as filed”. When this occurs, the CRA will send out a letter stating that the claim was accepted, but no determination was made about the eligibility of the work, but that they are accepted the claim in good faith. Typically once an SR&ED claim has been accepted as filed, it is not subject to reviews retroactively. This means that if you file a claim in the next fiscal year which may be a continuation of previous work and is rejected, in our experience it will not trigger a review of a claim previously submitted. With that said, the CRA has outlined several instances where a SR&ED claim that was was previously accepted as filed may be sent back for re-assessment (i.e. reviewed and possibly reduced or rejected). […]
In 2014, the CRA started rolling out a new program for the first-time SR&ED claimants appropriately named the First-Time Claimant Advisory Service or FTCAS. The program is new, and there seems to be some confusion with respect to its objectives and consequences. The confusion seems to stem from the CRA’s description of the program and the way it is being implemented. On the one hand, the CRA states that “the FTCAS is not a review or an audit and the CRA staff will not make any determination of the eligibility of work or expenditures claimed”. On the other hand, in the same document, the CRA explains that “should a refund be expected as a result of filing a claim, it will be processed after the site visit.” After reading this, one would immediately wonder why the SR&ED refund is being processed after the site visit if during the visit the […]