Did you know?

Approximately 50% of all claims submitted fall under Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Software tends to make up a huge amount of this work. ICT claims can be some of the most challenging to get approved without sufficient documentation. As many solutions could be seen as routine by the CRA, its key to document the novel approach you undertook, the challenges, and also the iterations you went through in developing your product. These could be pictures from your scrums, commit logs with sufficient detail of the obstacles you encountered, drawings and revisions of different hardware iterations, test logs and test data, etc.

Other advanced technologies are typically easier to qualify as SR&ED (Greentech, advanced materials, etc.). However, it is important to document the reason for the experiments to determine if the experimentation is Experimental Production (EP) or Commercial Production and Experimental Development (CP + ED). Particularly when dealing with pilot plants and prototypes not understanding the above can lead to a grossly miscalculated claim and big surprise when the CRA reviews your file.