Did The CRA Shred Its Old SR&ED Policy On Eligibility Of Work?

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) recently replaced its Eligibility of Work for SR&ED Investment Tax Credits Policy¹ with its new Guidelines on the Eligibility of Work for SR&ED Tax Incentives². This has created confusion as to whether this change indicates a substantive development in the law or merely a change in how the program will be administered.

This is no small point. Canada offers some of the most generous and broadly applicable research and development incentives in the world. While the federal government has increased direct funding for research and development initiatives in recent years, the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax incentives program is still the largest single support program in Canada-providing over $3 billion in tax incentives through more than 20,000 claims annually³. This program has attracted the attention of not just Canadian investors but also, increasingly, of foreign investors.