Process
Filing a SR&ED claim requires organization to gather, assess, assemble and file the claim and ensure all SR&ED program requirements are met. SR&ED Clinic has a solid internal management system and a well defined external system for determining and filing SR&ED as follows:
- Project identification – Determine what projects might be eligible and which can be ignored by reviewing work with the technical staff. From this we can get an excellent idea of what the SR&ED projects are and estimate the SR&ED return size.
- Technical information gathering – obtain relevant technical information about each project, usually by interviewing relevant staff, although some individuals prefer other approaches which SR&ED Clinic has the flexibility to accomodate. The goal is to make this process as smooth and easy as possible for you, the client while still gathering the required information. I know what I am looking for and have a very strong technical background (see bio); this process is efficient and thorough. Claims can sometimes be larger than expected when related activities are ferreted out, an activity I excel at.
- Collecting metadata – Specified information must be gathered to support the SR&ED filing which can be collected at this stage or later in the process.
- Collecting financial data – Specific financial data is collected to calculate SR&ED credits and ensure rules are followed as per the SR&ED program.
- Allocations – The size of the claim is determined based on how long the various activities took to complete by staff, and identifying other relevant costs such as contractors and eligible materials and it is my job to work out the relevant time and expenses involved.
- Report writing – The SR&ED filing must be supported by a 1,400 report for each project filed. Because the reports are short, they must be very focused on relevant SR&ED details. Irrelevant details hurt the filing in two ways: they leave less room for relevant details and irrelevant details make the claim appear weak. Both pitfalls must be avoided to protect the claim. I am an expert writer with countless successful SR&ED reports under my belt.
- Costing – financial data and allocations are processed to calculate the corporate ITC (Input Tax Credit) which is the cash and tax credits due to the corporation.
- Filing – the necessary details are organized and handed off to the corporate accountant for integration into the corporate T2 tax return.
- Tracking – SR&ED Clinic tracks the processing of the SR&ED claim by CRA.
The process outlined above results in a cheque from the government to the corporation.