SR&ED

Scientific Research and Experimental Development is Canada's research tax incentive, and it is the largest source of federal support for business R&D in the country. It is claimed on a corporate tax return rather than applied for: no call, no deadline, no competition, no assessment of whether your project is a priority.

Canadian-controlled private corporations receive an enhanced, refundable credit on qualifying expenditure up to an annual limit, refundable meaning it is paid in cash even when no tax is owed, which is what makes it usable by a loss-making start-up. Other claimants receive a lower rate that is generally not refundable.

What qualifies is technological uncertainty resolved by systematic investigation, not novelty in the marketplace. Routine engineering, adapting a known technique and quality control do not qualify however difficult they were. Claims are reviewed, and the documentation of the uncertainty and the experiments is what survives or fails that review.

It changes what a Canadian grant application is for. A company already recovering a substantial share of its R&D spend through this incentive applies for a contribution in order to do something it otherwise would not, which is precisely what most Canadian programmes ask it to demonstrate. Applications that describe business as usual fail on that point.

Bemzu does not list it: there is no call and no deadline to list. It is here because the Canadian corpus does not make sense without it.