SR&ED Tax Credit Financing is somewhat misunderstood, or in fact not really considered by many Canadian business owners and financial managers in Canada. We use the word ‘considered ‘simply because many SRED claimants are not aware that their SR&ED claims can be financing as soon as they are filed – in some cases prior to filing!
So let’s return to our topic – what are the two things you need to know about financing your SRED tax credit. We’ll keep it simple –
1. You have to have a SR&ED claim to obtain financing for the claim!
2. A SRED financing claim is in fact similar to any business financing application – frankly it’s quite simpler and more focused!
Is that it? Yes, it’s as simple as that. SR&ED tax credit financing is one of the most unique ways to bring valuable cash flow and working capital back into your firm. Just the very nature of SRED itself suggests that your firm relies heavily on the credit to recover the capital you have spent under the government’s quite generous non repayable grant.
So let’s return to our point # 1 – to finance a claim, you need a claim. The SRED program in Canada is the governments rebate; in effect it’s a grant, back to Canadian business for any investment you make in research and development. More and more information is coming out everyday from government and private sources which suggest that many firms who are eligible for the program either aren’t aware of it, or even more disappointing, don’t know how to go about preparing and filing a claim. We are often amazed when some clients infer that it’s ‘too much trouble ‘to prepare a SRED claim.
A couple of points can be made on this subject. We have met a small handful, and we repeat small handful! Of clients over the years who prepare their own filings. This of course is possible, legal, and in some business owners minds ‘cost effective. The hard reality is that most firms don’t have the technical and financial know how to complete a claim on their own. (Apologies to the firms which successfully prepare a file their own claims – you know who you are!)
The majority of claims in the SRED area are prepared by what is known as SRED consultants. We tell clients that these consultants are high specialized, are up to date on current government SRED and accounting matters, and in most cases work on contingency – meaning that they prepare the claim at their own risk and time, and charge a fee which is totally based on success of the final claim approval. If Canadian business owners and financial managers don’t choose to pay a contingency fee then they can play a flat rate based on the SRED consultant’s time on the claim and filing. Naturally more often than not the SRED fee has to be paid as soon as the claim is completed, even if you still have to wait several months to a year to get your funds.