Many clients ask “How do I know if my projects are SR&ED eligible?”
If your project centers on developing a new or improved product or process and requires that you go beyond what would be considered “Standard Practice” in your industry, then ask yourself if the following three criteria exist in your related project activities:
Technological Advancement: Were you seeking to do new things, new ways, an advancement of your technological knowledge base that was currently unknown at the onset of your project.
Technological Uncertainty: If answers to your technological knowledge base are unknown in the industry requiring a systematic analysis or experimentation to solve these uncertainties, providing answers to the goals sought then your project contains the criteria called “technological uncertainty”.
Technological Content: Performing a systematic approach by qualified supervisors and personnel to obtain results and draw conclusions regarding your projects Technological Uncertainties provides the necessary Technological Work Performed Content as the third criteria in determining an eligible SR&ED project.
While all three of these criteria form the basis in determining SR&ED eligibility, the subject matter of “Supporting Documentation” or “Evidence in support of your claim” is held in high importance because without documentation and evidence, simply articulating a project’s work content on its own will not carry all of the answers to eligibility.
Future “A Minute on SR&ED” blog posts will discuss Documentation.
