SR&ED for physicians
SR&ED for physicians and medical professional corporations.
A physician, medical professional corporation, hospital, or university may all be connected to the same research. The SR&ED claim depends on who undertook the eligible work, who paid the costs, and what the agreements and records show.
Good research is only the start. The right taxpayer has to make the claim.
A publication, grant, ethics approval, or hospital affiliation does not decide SR&ED eligibility. The work must address scientific or technological uncertainty through a systematic investigation or search.
Then the financial side has to match. Who undertook the work? Which corporation paid the salary or contract? What do the employment, research, and funding agreements say? Those details can determine whether a professional corporation has a supportable claim.
A practical first screen
Four signs the research deserves a closer look
The answer was not already available
The team faced a scientific or technical problem that standard knowledge, practice, or available methods could not resolve.
You tested a way forward
There was a hypothesis or technical objective, a method, observations, and conclusions that informed the next attempt.
A claimant carried the costs
The physician or professional corporation paid salary, an arm's-length contractor, materials, or another cost tied to the eligible work.
The work left a record
Protocols, notebooks, emails, datasets, analyses, payroll, and agreements can show what happened and who paid for it.
Separate the research problem from the surrounding clinical work.
A defensible claim is usually narrower than the full project. The point is to identify the experimental work and the costs that belong to it, while leaving routine care and administration outside.
Work to examine
- Experiments or analyses aimed at a genuine scientific or technological uncertainty
- Direct support work that is commensurate with the eligible experimental work
- Eligible salary, materials, and qualifying arm's-length contract expenditures
- Failed attempts when they were part of the systematic investigation
Work to keep outside the claim
- Routine clinical care or services delivered using established methods
- Ordinary data collection with no unresolved scientific or technical problem
- Market research, administration, and general business development
- Costs paid by another entity or unsupported by the agreements and records
FAQ
Physician SR&ED questions
Can a medical professional corporation claim SR&ED?
It may claim when it directly undertook eligible work, incurred the expenditures, and meets the other program requirements. Agreements involving the physician, corporation, hospital, university, or research institute can change who is able to claim.
Can an MPC claim work performed by its physician-employees?
It may be able to when the MPC directly undertook and funded the work. Salary or wages must be reasonable and tied to the time spent on the claimed research. If the work was done for another party, the service and research agreements also matter.
Does clinical research automatically qualify?
No. Ethics approval, a grant, or a publication does not decide eligibility. The work must address scientific or technological uncertainty through a systematic investigation or search.
Which physician research costs may be included?
Depending on the facts, eligible expenditures may include salary and wages, materials consumed, and qualifying arm's-length contract payments connected to the SR&ED work.
What records help establish the proper claimant?
Written research, employment, hospital, university, and funding agreements are especially useful. Payroll, time records, emails, corporate resolutions, invoices, and proof of payment can help show who performed the work and who bore the costs.
What is the SR&ED filing deadline for a corporation?
A corporation generally has 18 months after its tax year end to report SR&ED expenditures. The technical and financial claim information must be filed within that window.
Related medical SR&ED guidance
Official sources
Program guidance reviewed August 1, 2026.
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