ei

2 posts

Government’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan

As a result of COVID-19, the Federal Government enacted a series of short-term measures to assist businesses with the effects of this pandemic. Here are some clarifications to these measures as well as the information on how to apply for them. Whether you are an existing client or have general questions about these measures, please contact us. Grants This is the single most popular topic we have received questions about over the last 10 days. For the majority of companies, this stems from the need for short term financing and mitigation of cancelled or delayed contracts (particularly for B2B companies). Sadly, the federal government has been quiet on this front.  The government has not requested any mandate changes from organizations, other than to expedite COVID-19 related R&D. We suspect this may change in the near future. Most active grants available at the moment require co-investment from accredited investors, taking on […]

SR&ED: Subcontract vs. T4 Labour

In working with our clients we frequently encounter confusion regarding the ramifications of utilizing contract labour versus salaried labour to conduct SR&ED work. The decision to structure the relationship between an employer and potential employee or contractor needs to be examined not only for general business implications but also for specific SR&ED implications as it can have a significant impact on a company’s eligible SR&ED expenditures for ITC (investment tax credit) purposes. A common misconception is that the financial advantages of employing contract labour make this a preferred arrangement. The financial advantages of contract labour include minimizing the employers EI and CPP burden as well as reducing costs associated with various employer funded employee benefit programs. These advantages quickly disappear in the context of a firm conducting SR&ED. This is best illustrated with a simple example. Let’s compare the two situations where the company in question is a CCPC in […]