Grants and SR&ED

Film, Television & Digital Media Grants & Services

Direct Co-ops provides services to content creators seeking government funding for high quality Film, Television and Digital Media projects. From the concept stage, all the way through production and delivery, Direct Co-ops is your one stop shop to guide you and your business through a variety of Tax Credits, Grants, Research and Industry Development Programs available to residents and business owners in Ontario, and across Canada.

The SR&ED Program

The SR&ED Program is a federal government incentive program administered by Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). The purpose of the program is to encourage Canadian businesses of all sizes to conduct research and development that will lead to new or improved technologically advanced products or processes.  This encouragement is achieved by way of $3 billion in assistance annually to 20,000 claimants.

Benefits of the Program

Assistance in the form of cash refunds and/or tax credits on expenditures for eligible research and development work done in Canada. Tax credits not utilized in the current year can be carried back three years and carried forward ten years.

Who Qualifies?

Proprietorships, partnerships or corporations carrying on business in Canada who:

• Conduct basic or applied research in a science or technology field; or
• Conduct experimental development designed to create or improve products or processes that embody a scientific or technological advancement

Nature of the Program

The nature of the SR&ED program requires a joint effort between Science staff and Tax staff.

SR&ED stands for:

SR – Scientific research

• Purpose – to obtain an “advancement in scientific knowledge” which encompasses Basic and Applied category under ITA 248 (1)
• This would be an advancement in the field of science itself
• “work done predominately in a laboratory”
• Work to develop a “cure for cancer” or a practical fuel cell
• Accounts for less than 5% of the claims submitted

ED – Experimental Development:

Experimental Development is

• Attempt to achieve (success is not relevant)
• Technological advancement – increasing existing Technological base
• New or improved materials, devices, products or processes
• Includes incremental improvements
• Follows a systematic investigation
• Occurs in a commercial setting
• Includes Support work
• Accounts for 95% of all claims submitted
• What did you do to the technology versus with it.
• Experimental Development is not
• Trial and error testing where the success is a foregone conclusion
• Routine engineering

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ResDev Tax Consultants Inc. combines the unique skill sets of SR&ED science specialists with SR&ED tax specialists.  This partnering allows for easy collaboration throughout the SR&ED claim process, including the initial assessment of activities, the preparation of the claim and representation during a CRA audit.

ResDev offers a complete range of SR&ED consulting services, including:

• Identification and documentation of qualifying SR&ED activities;
• Identification of qualified expenditures and preparation of supporting schedules;
• Completion of the Technical submission for the corportate tax return
• Completion of the Financial Schedules for the corporate tax return.
• Participation in CRA audits
• Filing CRA Appeals
• Filing appeals to Federal Tax Court

In addition, we assist in the implementation of proper documentation procedures to track SR&ED activities and expenditures. As well we provide you tools to assist in tracking and documenting your SR&ED claim.