SR&ED for medtech companies
You paid to solve the hard technical problems. Some of that work may already qualify.
Device, diagnostic, imaging, and medical software teams run experiments long before anyone calls the work SR&ED. Medical SR&ED covers that engineering work too. If available technical knowledge could not solve the problem and your company tested a way forward, part of the cost may support a tax credit.
A hard project is not enough. Look for the technical problem that forced the experiments.
A product can be novel and still contain no SR&ED. It can also look ordinary from the outside while the team is solving a real technical limitation in sensing, signal processing, assay performance, materials, imaging, manufacturing, or software.
The useful question is not whether the product was innovative. It is whether competent professionals could resolve the specific problem using available knowledge, and whether the team used experiments or analysis to work through it.
Where to look
The claim usually begins in the engineering record
A technical limit stopped progress
Accuracy, stability, sensitivity, latency, biocompatibility, reproducibility, or another measurable constraint could not be solved by standard practice.
The team ran a test loop
A hypothesis or technical objective led to prototypes, experiments, measurements, analysis, and changes in the next attempt.
The failures taught you something
Unexpected results narrowed the possible solution or changed the technical approach. A commercial failure is not required.
The company paid the work
Payroll, materials, and qualifying contracts can be traced to the eligible period and supported by financial records.
Claim the experimental work, not the whole product roadmap.
Development projects mix eligible work with routine engineering and commercial execution. Drawing that boundary clearly makes the claim easier to understand and defend.
Work to examine
- Experiments addressing device, software, assay, imaging, or process uncertainty
- Directly related support work that is commensurate with the eligible experiments
- Eligible salary, consumed materials, and qualifying arm's-length contracts
- Failed prototypes and approaches that contributed to the technical investigation
Work to keep outside the claim
- Routine coding, configuration, testing, or debugging using established methods
- Ordinary quality assurance, certification, and regulatory administration
- Market research, sales work, cosmetic design, and commercial rollout
- Product improvements that did not require a scientific or technological advance
A focused review
Turn the development history into a clear, supportable claim.
- 01
Find the technical bottlenecks
Together, we walk through what did not work, why the answer was not readily available, and how the team changed its approach.
- 02
Set the project boundaries
I separate the eligible experimental work from routine engineering, regulatory, and commercial activity.
- 03
Connect people and costs
I match the technical periods to payroll, contracts, materials, and the records your company already keeps.
- 04
Prepare and support the claim
I prepare the technical claim and expenditure support, coordinate with your accountant, and stay involved if the CRA reviews it.
Questions medtech teams usually ask
- Does failed work qualify?
- It can. SR&ED does not require commercial success. The failure must be part of a systematic attempt to resolve a scientific or technological uncertainty, and the work and costs still need support.
- Can medical software qualify?
- Software is not automatically eligible or excluded. The question is whether the team sought a technological advance through systematic investigation, rather than carrying out routine development with established methods.
- Does building a prototype make the work eligible?
- Not by itself. A prototype can be part of eligible work when it was built and tested to resolve the technical uncertainty. A demonstration or normal product iteration may stay outside the claim.
- What about Quebec's research and innovation credit?
- For taxation years beginning after March 25, 2025, Quebec's current credit can cover qualifying research, development, and some pre-commercialization activity. It has its own expenditure and exclusion rules and should be reviewed separately from the federal SR&ED claim.
Official sources
Program guidance reviewed August 1, 2026.
Keep reading
Do not let an open year close: A corporation generally has 18 months after its tax year end to report SR&ED expenditures. The technical story and the costs both have to be filed on time.