To ensure predictability in the SR&ED tax credits received, two critical steps must be taken for each SR&ED claim submitted.  

First and foremost is to ensure that the SR&ED salaries, materials and sub-contractor costs claimed for are segregated from the ‘due diligence’ and ‘commercial’ phases of the project.   Typically, eligible SR&ED expenditures are a sub-set of the R&D phase which itself is a sub-set of a commercial project.   While in theory this sounds generally applicable, in practice it can only be done by examining the unique facts of each project.    Precisely where the ‘due diligence’ phase ends (and SR&ED begins) depends on the Technological Obstacles encountered.  

This dependency is why Saccade has developed a process which evaluates all relevant arguments that can be used for the Obstacles encountered to see which provides the largest sub-set of eligible SR&ED expenditures. 

The second most critical part to ensuring predictability is to only claim for projects for which strong arguments can be made for eligibility.   This appears obvious but, in practice, requires experience and expertise to make the judgement about strength reliably and precisely.   Additionally, it entails a shift in focus when preparing the claim from finding any argument for eligibility to finding facts and information which allow a claimant to form the strongest arguments possible.    

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