Instrument · SR&ED Calculator · Free
Canada refunds a meaningful share of eligible R&D salaries, subcontractors, and materials through SR&ED. Answer five questions and get a plausible claim range — live, free, and no email required.
Provincial R&D credits differ. In some provinces the numbers need a conversation instead of a formula.
Add each person doing hands-on R&D — engineers, developers, scientists, technical founders — with their annual salary and roughly how much of their time goes to experimental or development work.
Arm's-length Canadian contractors doing R&D work for you. 80% of this typically qualifies. Foreign contractors don't count.
Materials used up or transformed in experiments and prototypes.
Your estimate
The estimate updates live as you type — no email required, nothing to submit.
An estimate for discussion only — not tax advice, not a filing, and not a CRA determination. Actual claims depend on eligible work and expenditures.
How the estimate works
The calculator follows the standard SR&ED expenditure build-up: eligible salaries, plus the 55% prescribed proxy for overhead, plus 80% of arm’s-length Canadian subcontractor costs, plus materials consumed. Provincial credits apply first, the federal credit applies to what remains, and the result is shown as a conservative-to-typical range rather than a false-precision single number.
| Credit | Rate | Refundable | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal SR&ED investment tax credit (enhanced rate) — CCPCs | 35% | refundable | Income Tax Act s. 127(10.1); expenditure limit raised to $6M by Bill C-15 (royal assent 2026-03-26) for tax years beginning on or after Dec 16, 2024 |
| Federal SR&ED investment tax credit (basic rate) — other corporations | 15% | non-refundable | Income Tax Act s. 127(5) — 15% non-refundable for non-CCPCs |
| New Brunswick R&D Tax Credit | 15% | refundable | NB Income Tax Act; claimed on federal T2 Schedule 360 |
| Nova Scotia R&D Tax Credit | 15% | refundable | NS Income Tax Act; claimed on federal T2 Schedule 340 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador R&D Tax Credit | 15% | refundable | NL Income Tax Act, 2000; claimed on federal T2 Schedule 301 |
| Prince Edward Island | No provincial R&D credit — federal only | ||
| Ontario Innovation Tax Credit (OITC) — CCPCs | 8% | refundable | Ontario Taxation Act, 2007 s. 96; claimed on T2 Schedule 566 |
| Ontario Research and Development Tax Credit (ORDTC) — other corporations | 3.5% | non-refundable | Ontario Taxation Act, 2007 s. 38; claimed on T2 Schedule 508 |
Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut: provincial incentives there follow structures a simple formula would misstate, so the calculator routes you to a conversation instead of showing a number we don’t stand behind.
Rates last verified 2026-08-04. The v1 model deliberately excludes taxable-capital phase-outs, capital expenditures, and specified-employee limits — the displayed range absorbs those simplifications.
An estimate for discussion only — not tax advice, not a filing, and not a CRA determination. Actual claims depend on eligible work and expenditures.
Common questions
Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) is Canada’s largest R&D incentive program. If your team is solving technical problems where the answer isn’t already known — building, testing, iterating — the salaries, Canadian subcontractors, and materials behind that work can earn federal and provincial tax credits. For Canadian-controlled private corporations, most of the federal credit is refundable: it arrives as cash even if you pay no tax.
It’s a planning range, not a filing. The calculator uses the standard proxy method (a 55% overhead uplift on eligible salaries), the 80% arm’s-length subcontractor rule, and current published federal and provincial rates. Real claims depend on which work qualifies and how expenditures are documented — that’s the conversation we have on a call.
A Canadian-controlled private corporation: private, resident in Canada, and not controlled by non-residents or public corporations. Most Canadian startups and founder-owned companies qualify. CCPCs get the enhanced 35% refundable federal credit on up to $6M of qualified expenditures per year; other corporations get 15% non-refundable.
For CCPCs, the enhanced federal credit and several provincial credits (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario’s OITC) are refundable — the CRA pays the amount out even if you owe no tax. For non-CCPCs, credits generally reduce taxes payable instead.
Work that tries to resolve a technological uncertainty through systematic investigation — experiments, prototypes, iterative development where existing knowledge didn’t hold the answer. Routine development, styling, and market research don’t qualify on their own. Salaries for eligible time, 80% of arm’s-length Canadian subcontractor costs, and materials consumed in the work all count toward the claim.
Quebec runs its own R&D credit system with different rules and forms, Alberta replaced its SR&ED credit with the Innovation Employment Grant, and several other provinces have credits with limits or conditions that a simple formula would misstate. Rather than show a number we don’t stand behind, we do that math with you directly — the federal credit applies everywhere either way.