on June 21, 2019, Bill C-97, an Act to implement certain provisions of the 2019 federal budget received royal assent and became law.

The Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) Tax Incentive Program provides a  basic 15%, non-refundable credit to all businesses performing SR&ED in Canada. Eligible small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can qualify for enhanced 35% refundable tax credit rate of qualifying SR&ED expenditures up to $3M per fiscal year.

Eligibility for the 35% rate was determined by a business’ level of taxable capital and income from the prior fiscal year. 

  • The taxable capital threshold is between $10M and $50M.
  • The taxable income threshold begins at $500,000 taxable income in the prior year and reduces current fiscal year eligibility for the enhanced credit on a sliding scale until $800,000 taxable income in the prior year.

Budget 2019 proposed to eliminate the income threshold to qualify for federal enhanced (refundable) SR&ED investment tax credits for taxation years beginning on or after March 19, 2019, for SMEs, in order to increase support for SMEs that are scaling up their R&D efforts or have variable income from year to year. The capital threshold will continue to apply.

The new law will allow CCPCs with taxable capital of up to $10M to access to the enhanced refundable SR&ED investment tax credit regardless of their taxable income.

Example of Calculating tax credits for CCPCs
in Ontario above the small business limit


The table above presents an example for calculating SR&ED tax credits for a CCPC in Ontario that qualifies for the federal ITC and provincial ORDTC, with less than $10M in taxable capital and more than $500,000 in taxable income. In some cases, companies may also qualify for the Ontario Innovation Tax Credit (OITC) at a tax credit rate of 8%.

Contact us today to find out how the new legislature will impact your business or if you would like to learn more about various government funding sources to innovate and grow your company.