SR&ED Tax Financing - Cash and Working Capital for your R&D Credit

SR&ED Financing, (also often pronounced ’ SRED Financing’ ... we’ll use the term interchangeably ) is a tremendous way for Canadian firms to monetize their research and development tax credit claims in order to generate additional cash flow and working capital for their business .

It is of course common sense that to finance a claim and get funds now you have to have a claim filed! Canada’s sred program and absolutely one of the most positive, beneficial and proactive non repayable grant programs that exists in Canada, bar none.

Over the years we have met with many clients who, unfortunately, haven’t even heard of the program, at that same time for years they have been allocating considerable funds to research and development in manufacturing, software creation, etc. We say software for a specific example, because in many ways it is one of the most obvious areas for sred, and your ability to generate a sred loan against software development is virtually almost guaranteed. But our point simply is that any R&D you do probably can be assessed for research and experimental development - That’s where the acronym comes for Scientific Research and Experimental Development = S R E D!

Many professionals in the SRED area advise our clients that out of the several billion dollars that the government hands out now for the program that almost twice as much remains unclaimed by Canadian business simply for the fact that firms have not heard of the program . One of the key cornerstones of the program is the term ’ uncertainty ’ - if your firm is working on products, processes etc and is unsure of the final result , and funds are expended against that research then clearly that’s SRED !

Well up to this point we have talked about the program, detailed when it is available, now let’s focus on generating cash for our R&D expense.

You have two options after you have prepared a sred claim and filed it. They are not very complex options:

1. You can wait for your technical audit, financial audit and the government cheque, which will of course arrive many months down the road. If it is your first filing the process will take quite a bit longer.

2. You can finance, or ’ discount’ - we can even call it ’ factor ’ your sred to generate a sred loan for immediate working capital.

SRED Loans can be generated immediately after the filing of your claim. Many of our clients actually start the financing process earlier, and the reality is that funds could be advanced exactly at the time of filing. Many firms are very surprised to hear that in certain circumstances you are actually eligible to receive funds during the year, prior to filing - We have termed this process as ’ accrual sred financing ‘. A few more criteria are attached to this process, but isn’t it a great idea to know that your R&D could be funded along the way as you dispense your own capital for the projects.

’Whats involved in a SR&ED financing’? Clients ask. To keep things simply we simply advise that they should view a sred financing in the same manner they view and business financing or working capital financing application. It’s a clear defined process which is as follows:

- Prepare a SRED claim (more often than not with the help of an external consultant)
- File the Claim
- Complete a business financing application

It’s as simple as that. Typical back up documentation and due diligence that you would associate with any financing of your firm applies.

Oh, and a final question we always get - How much can I get and how do payments work. The good news is typically there are no payments made, you get usually around 70% of the claim value on approval, and the balance could be called a holdback or buffer. When your cheque is processed by the government and the grant is mailed to you the additional 30% is of course released, less the financing charges.

Consider monetizing your SR&ED claim for valuable cash flow and working capital generation.

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Stan Prokop - founder of 7 Park Avenue Financial - http://www.7parkavenuefinancial.com
Originating business financing for Canadian companies , specializing in working capital, cash flow, asset based financing . In business 6 years - has completed in excess of 45 Million $$ of financing for Canadian corporations .
For info on Canadian business financing & contact details :
http://www.7parkavenuefinancial.com/sred_tax_financing_sred_loan.html