Infographic: Supporting Canadian Innovation

The SR&ED Tax Incentive Program

The CRA's Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) Tax Incentive Program is the largest Government of Canada program supporting research and development (R&D) in Canada.

$3 billion in tax incentives

16,000 businesses annually

What are the SR&ED tax incentives?

• a deduction against net income for income tax purposes
• an investment tax credit (ITC) that can be non-refundable or refundable

How your business can benefit from SR&ED tax incentives

If you are doing SR&ED work, you can use your pool of deductible SR&ED expenditures to:

• reduce your net income for tax purposes in the current year
• deduct them in a future year

Your investment tax credits (ITCs) will be at least 15% and can be 35% of your qualified SR&ED expenditures. You can use the ITCs to reduce your income tax payable for the year.

If you have any remaining ITCs in the current year, you may be eligible to get a refund. If you have any current year unused ITCs, you can carry them back 3 years or forward 20 years.

Find out if you can claim SR&ED tax incentives

To earn the SR&ED tax incentives, your work must meet two requirements:

• the work is conducted for the advancement of scientific knowledge or for achieving a technological advancement (the why)
• the work is a systematic investigation or search in a field of science or technology by experiment or analysis (the how)

Businesses must disclose any financial assistance they receive for SR&ED work, as it could impact the amount of their qualifying expenditures. This includes any government or non-government assistance.

What type of work is eligible:

• Work categories
• Basic research
• Applied research
• Experimental development

What type of work is eligible:

• Support work
• Engineering
• Design
• Operations research
• Mathematical analysis
• Computer programming
• Data collection
• Testing
• Psychological research

Helping you assess whether your R&D work is eligible

Use our Self-Assessment and Learning Tool (SALT) to find out in around 30 minutes whether your work may be eligible for SR&ED tax incentives. It also allows you to:

• estimate the credits you may be eligible to earn
• understand what you need to complete a claim
• identify the records you may need to support your claim
• request to speak with an SR&ED specialist

We’re here to help!

• Pre-claim consultation
  • Speak with an SR&ED specialist to learn more about the program and its requirements.
• Outreach events
  • Sign up for a virtual webinar or in-person information session to get an overview of the SR&ED Tax Incentive program.
• First-Time Claimant Advisory Service
  • If you are a new claimant, meet with an SR&ED specialist to learn more about the program and its requirements.