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 […]
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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 […]