Most research groups already create the records needed for an SR&ED claim. Lab notebooks, protocol changes, analysis files, meeting notes, and payroll records all count. You do not need a second recordkeeping system just for tax purposes.
The challenge is finding those records later and showing how they connect to the work and costs in the claim.
What the CRA needs to see
Your records should make four things clear:
- What work was done
- Who did it
- When it happened
- How the related costs were calculated
The CRA accepts many kinds of evidence. Examples include lab notebooks, test plans and results, protocol versions, trial-run records, meeting notes, source code, photographs, contracts, time records, payroll records, invoices, and final reports. Even whiteboard photos and meeting chats can help when they show what happened during the project.
Write down what changed
A useful note is both dated and specific. Compare these two entries:
Optimisation continued.
Third dilution series on the new lot. Blocking step extended to 90 minutes. Background still present at 1:200.
The second entry takes only a little longer to write, but it shows the problem, the change that was tested, and the result.
Timing matters too. A note made during the work is generally stronger than an explanation rebuilt from memory a year later. Signed records can also help. Your recollection still has value, but it cannot replace records that show how the work unfolded.
Track research time while it is fresh
Medical teams usually document the science well. Time is more likely to be missing.
A physician's week can include patient care, teaching, administration, and research. Only part of that time may relate to the work being claimed. Because salary is often a major cost, the claim needs a reasonable way to separate research time from everything else.
This does not require minute-by-minute tracking. A short monthly note can be enough if it records who worked on the project, roughly how much time they spent, and what they did. A simple habit that people maintain is better than a detailed system they stop using.
How the records become a claim
Form T661 asks three short questions about each project:
- What scientific or technological uncertainty did you try to resolve?
- What work did you do during the tax year?
- What new knowledge or advancement did you achieve or try to achieve?
The answers are limited to 350, 700, and 350 words. Good records make those answers easier to write because the dates, tests, results, and decisions are already there.
There is also a deadline. For most corporations, the SR&ED reporting deadline is 12 months after the T2 return is due, which is generally 18 months after the tax year ends. That can feel like plenty of time until someone has to reconstruct a February experiment the following summer.
Your records do not have to be perfect. Start with what already exists, then make the next month easier to document than the last. A short conversation can help identify which of your current records are useful and what may still be missing.