You run a study at a hospital, collaborate with a university, and pay a research assistant through your medical corporation. Could some of that work support an SR&ED claim by the corporation?
Possibly. Paying a research expense is a reason to look more closely, but it does not settle the answer. You need to understand the corporation's role in the research and whether the work meets the program's requirements.
A useful place to start is with one study and the agreements behind it.
Follow the study and the money
Consider a hypothetical imaging study. You are investigating whether a different image-acquisition method could address a measurement problem that existing knowledge cannot resolve. Your corporation pays an assistant to help with the experimental comparisons, while the work takes place at a hospital.
The protocol explains the research. To understand the corporation's role, you also need to know who agreed to carry out the work, who employed the assistant, and whether a hospital, grant, or sponsor reimbursed the expense.
If the study agreement names the hospital but the assistant is on the corporation's payroll, that difference deserves a closer look. Neither the location of the study nor the name on a payslip answers the whole question.
The federal expenditure rules consider research undertaken by or on behalf of a taxpayer and its relationship to that taxpayer's business. This is why the corporation's agreements matter alongside its payments.
A doctor-corporation agreement can clarify the physician's role. Read it alongside the hospital or sponsor agreement and the funding records so the review reflects how the study actually operated.
Look at the question the research was trying to answer
For SR&ED, the work must aim to advance scientific or technological knowledge through a systematic investigation using experiment or analysis. The CRA's eligibility guidance explains these requirements.
In the imaging example, the experimental comparisons may warrant review. The team would need to explain the unresolved measurement problem, its proposed approach, and what the experiments showed.
A protocol or research ethics board approval does not establish SR&ED eligibility by itself. Routine care can remain outside the claim even when it takes place alongside a study. Equally, the assistant's job title does not decide which tasks belong: collecting measurements for the investigation needs a different assessment from ordinary scheduling.
You already know the scientific story. The next step is to connect that story to the work the corporation undertook or had performed on its behalf, and the expenses being considered.
Where the Quebec incorporation rules fit
If you practise through a medical corporation in Quebec, the Collège des médecins du Québec requires prior authorization. The corporation must already be incorporated and have a Quebec enterprise number before the application.
The Quebec regulation also sets conditions for ownership, governance, and professional liability.
These requirements establish the professional structure. SR&ED is a separate review of the research and expenses. Having the corporation properly set up does not mean all research-related spending qualifies.
Check which Quebec credit applies
Quebec's refundable credit for R&D and pre-commercialization, known as CRIC, applies to qualifying expenses incurred in taxation years beginning after March 25, 2025.
The corporation must meet the provincial conditions, including having an establishment and carrying on business in Quebec. The qualifying activities must take place in Quebec, either through the corporation or on its behalf under a contract. There are additional eligibility and expense rules to check.
Your accountant therefore needs the corporation's taxation-year dates as well as the research records. Older Quebec credits may apply to earlier years. A federal SR&ED assessment does not, by itself, establish the provincial amount.
What to bring to an initial review
You do not need to resolve every tax question before discussing the study. Start with a short explanation of the scientific problem, then gather:
- the study protocol and records of the experimental work;
- agreements connecting the physician, corporation, hospital, and any sponsor;
- payroll or invoices for the work under consideration;
- funding and reimbursement records, with the corporation's taxation-year dates.
That gives your advisers something concrete to assess. It also helps reveal a missing agreement or an expense recorded somewhere unexpected before anyone estimates a credit.
Our SR&ED guide for physicians covers the broader research questions. To discuss a study and your corporation's role, contact MITRAS. The legal and accounting treatment should be reviewed with your corporation's lawyer and accountant.
Sources reviewed September 10, 2026. The CRA's older physician and medical corporation page is archived; it is background reading rather than current filing guidance.