Monthly Archives: January 2017

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Subcontractors and SR&ED ‘Loopholes’

Subcontractors who are Canadian (i.e. companies operating in Canada), or individuals in Canada hired on a subcontract basis and are performing SR&ED eligible work, can be claimed under the program. The difference between subcontractors and employees is simply the refund rate. Through the program, a higher return rate is applied to salaried employees versus subcontractors. There is another scenario involving subcontractors that people mistakenly think is a loophole to be exploited. In some cases, a company will hire a Canadian subcontractor (typically a company) to perform some SR&ED eligible development on their behalf. The Canadian subcontractor then outsources this work offshore. Some outsourcing companies present this as a way to win business as they can lower their costs to the client, while still allowing the client to claim SR&ED on their work. In fact, this is not a loophole, and is something that the CRA accounted for long ago. Through a directive, that […]