Financing Tax Pigs . Your SRED ( SR&ED Tax Credits ) Tax Credit Claims Are Still 100% Financeable!

Ouch! Make that a double ouch! Tax pigs? That was the assessment of one of Canada's leading economics and business professors when it came to Canadian firms who line up (we assume he meant at the trough?!?!) to get their fare share of what he called ' tax preferences' in Canada.

The thrust of the article, which appeared in one of the two leading business newspapers in Canada, was that Canada is losing billions, yes that’s billions with a capital B... to a long list of tax programs from which it derives little benefit.

Those programs include labour funds, the Atlantic tax credit , film tax credits, accelerated deprecation credits ( that’s a new one for us), flow through share credits, GST preferences, and finally SRED ( SR&ED ) tax credit claims .

We won't weigh in on the authors premise, which was pretty well to put these programs on the ' chopping block ‘in order to get government spending in line.

We thought that perhaps we should seek an honest politician for some clarity on the issue , but in the interest of time vis a vis the ' honest politician' oxymoron our point is simply that if certain government tax credit programs such as SRED and film exist , and you qualify and file for them .. Then you can finance them.

The financing of these credits brings valuable cash flow and working capital into the thousands of firms who do in fact qualify for the program.

Let's look at the SRED program. This is the Scientific Research and Experimental Development Tax Credit Program which is a federal incentive. It's administered by both CRA and your respective province and has encouraged over the years thousands of Canadian companies to work on r&d. Private , ie non public firms can earn approximately up to 35% on the first 3 Million they spend on projects that qualify, and 20% on amount in excess.

Canadian business currently uses this SRED credit for claims on wages, material, equipment, and certain overhead allocations.

The question has therefore become, is all this SR&ED tax credit work legitimate, as almost 4 Billion per annum is spent annually in non refundable tax credits for Canadian firms. Over 24,000 firms have applied annually for the credits.

Upcoming federal budgets will soon tell the tale of where SRED is going in Canada.

The bottom line is that if you have a SRED (SR&ED) tax credit there is financing available on the credit. Your credit is monetized either at time of filing, or in some cases in an accrual financing plan as you spend. Claims typically are financed at 70% of SRED value, the other 30% is in essence a buffer.

TAX Credit financing can typically be completed in 14-21 days, with the essential collateral behind the financing of course being the SRED itself

Canadian firms who use the program can claim up tot the last two years of R&D, and the claims are typically prepared by professionals simply known as ' SRED CONSULTANTS.

So, is your firm a tax pig? Seems a bit harsh, and we're still looking for that honest politician find out where SRED tax credit is going in Canada. In the meantime, if you have a claim, and want to monetize it consider talking to a trusted, credible and experienced Canadian business financing advisor for funding your claim.