An assay stops behaving halfway through a study. The team changes the preparation method, runs another series, and records the results in three different places. Six months later, the protocol explains what changed but not why. The payroll file shows who was paid, but not which part of the work they performed.
This is a common point of failure in a medical SR&ED review. The science may be well documented while the claimant, project boundary, time, and costs remain unclear.
Use this checklist while the work is still fresh. It is a screening tool, not a determination of eligibility or entitlement.
Start with the scientific problem
Write one paragraph describing what the team could not resolve using the scientific or technological knowledge available at the start.
- What result or behaviour was uncertain?
- What established methods, protocols, or published approaches were considered?
- Why were those approaches insufficient for this situation?
- What hypothesis or possible solution did the team test?
- What did each test show, including an unsuccessful test?
- What new understanding came from the work?
The CRA describes eligible work as a systematic investigation or search conducted through experiment or analysis for scientific or technological advancement. Routine testing and routine data collection are excluded. Data collection or testing may sometimes qualify as support work when it directly supports, and is commensurate with, the experimental work.
For a clinical trial, separate the experimental problem from ordinary study operations. A protocol amendment may help date the point when an established method failed. Standard recruitment, participant visits, monitoring, and data capture do not become SR&ED merely because they took place in the same trial. Our clinical-trial guide explains this boundary in more detail.
Identify the possible claimant
Do not assume that the person who led the research is the claimant. A physician, medical professional corporation, hospital, university, sponsor, or another company may each appear in the same project.
- Which person or entity agreed to perform the research?
- Who signed the study, service, or funding agreements?
- Who employed or paid the people doing the work?
- Who paid the contractors, materials, and other project costs?
- Was the work performed for that entity or on behalf of another party?
- What payments, reimbursements, or other assistance were received or expected?
- Do the agreements and invoices use the same legal name as the proposed claimant?
The CRA's physician and medical professional corporation page discusses these questions, but the CRA has archived that page and no longer updates it. Use it as background only. Claimant and contract-payment questions should be reviewed against the current law, agreements, and facts. The physician SR&ED page provides a focused starting point.
Preserve technical evidence
Keep the records your team already creates. The useful ones show the problem, the work, the people involved, and the timing.
- Dated protocol versions and amendments
- Experimental plans, hypotheses, and design notes
- Lab notebooks, run logs, analysis files, and source code
- Test data, failed-run records, results, and conclusions
- Meeting notes or messages that explain why the team changed course
- Photos, diagrams, samples, or prototypes where relevant
- A short monthly project timeline linking the records together
Specific notes are better than a line such as "optimization continued." Record the method changed, the reason for the change, and what happened next. The CRA recommends documentation created while the work is being performed and accepts many forms of technical evidence.
Connect the work to the costs
- Record who worked on the project and what each person did.
- Separate experimental work from patient care, teaching, administration, and routine study activity.
- Keep payroll records, time records, contractor invoices, and proof of payment.
- Link materials and other project costs to the relevant test or work period.
- Keep agreements that explain who performed the work and how payments were calculated.
- Maintain a list of grants, tax credits, contract payments, and other assistance connected to the project.
Other government R&D funding does not by itself prevent work from being eligible, but the CRA states that it can reduce the investment tax credit and must be reported. Review assistance before calculating the claim. The medical SR&ED calculator is useful for early planning, not a substitute for reviewing the actual expenditures and funding.
Check timing and privacy
For corporations, the CRA says the SR&ED reporting deadline is 12 months after the T2 return is due. It does not accept changes to a claim after the reporting deadline. Confirm the date for the specific taxpayer rather than relying on a general reminder.
Keep the working checklist free of patient identifiers and unnecessary confidential study data. A project summary can describe the uncertainty, tests, and evidence locations without copying clinical records into a new file.
If the claimant, project boundary, assistance, or records do not line up cleanly, a confidential preliminary discussion can identify what needs closer review before a claim is prepared.