SR&ED Tax Credits — Turn Your R&D Spending Into Cash
Trim Tax identifies eligible projects, documents the technical work and prepares your T661 claim so your business receives the refundable credits it has earned — and keeps them through a CRA review.
Most eligible businesses never claim
The Scientific Research and Experimental Development program is Canada's largest business incentive, worth billions of dollars each year, yet many software, manufacturing, engineering, food-processing and agriculture companies leave credits unclaimed because they assume their work is not "research." SR&ED is about technological uncertainty and systematic investigation, not laboratories or white coats.
If your team attempted to achieve a technological advancement, faced uncertainty that could not be resolved with standard practice, and worked through it systematically — building prototypes, running tests, iterating on designs — you may qualify for federal investment tax credits of up to 35% of eligible expenditures (for CCPCs, refundable in cash) plus provincial credits such as the Ontario Innovation Tax Credit.
A claim that survives review
A SR&ED claim has two halves: a technical narrative for each project that answers the CRA's questions about advancement, uncertainty and systematic investigation, and a financial schedule that ties eligible salaries, materials, contractors and overhead to those projects.
Claims fail when the narrative describes a product instead of the technology problem, or when the costs cannot be traced to the work described. Trim Tax's technical and financial reviewers interview your engineers and developers, write narratives in the CRA's language, compile costs from your payroll and ledger, and file the T661 with your T2 — then defend the claim if the CRA selects it for review.
SR&ED services
- Eligibility assessment at no cost — we tell you honestly whether a claim is worth pursuing before you spend anything
- Project identification and technical interviews with your engineers, developers and production staff
- Technical narratives written to the CRA's criteria: technological uncertainty, hypothesis, systematic investigation and advancement
- Cost identification: salaries and wages, materials consumed or transformed, contractor payments, third-party payments and overhead under the proxy or traditional method
- Form T661, Schedule 31 (investment tax credit) and provincial schedules (Ontario Schedule 566 and others) prepared and filed with the T2
- Integration with your corporate tax return so credits, refunds and carry-forwards flow correctly
- Contemporaneous documentation systems — time tracking, project logs, test records — so next year's claim is stronger and easier
- CRA review and audit defence, including preparation for and attendance at technical and financial reviewer meetings
- Claims for prior years within the 18-month filing window
- Coordination with other programs: IRAP, Ontario and federal grants, and digital media tax credits, to avoid double-counting
Industries we support
Software, SaaS, artificial intelligence, machine learning and app development
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Manufacturing, machining, automation and process improvement
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Engineering, cleantech, construction technology and building products
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Food processing, agriculture, beverages and packaging
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Medical devices, health technology and life sciences
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Electronics, hardware and IoT
Book a consultationWhy choose Trim Tax for SR&ED
- Technical and financial expertise in one team: engineers who understand your work and CPAs who tie the costs to the T2.
- Honest eligibility calls — we decline projects that will not qualify rather than filing claims that invite review.
- Narratives written for the CRA's reviewers, not marketing copy.
- Full review defence included, by the same people who prepared the claim.
- Flexible pricing: a fixed fee or a contingency percentage agreed in writing before work starts.
- Integrated corporate tax, so the credit, the refund and the carry-forward are handled without a second accountant.
Frequently asked questions
Find out if your work qualifies.
Book a free SR&ED eligibility call — call 647 243-5076 or email info@trimtax.ca.
