Most Canadian provinces top-up the federally-funded Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credit. In the past, Alberta has trailed the rest of Canada in its support of research and development. Up until now. It seems that Alberta has finally caught up with the rest of Canada with their announcement of a 10% SR&ED tax credit top-up.
The Alberta top-up will apply to all expenditures eligible for the federal SR&ED credit, up to a maximum of $4,000,000 of expenditures annually. Calculated at 10% of eligible expenditures, this provides a company a maximum credit of $400,000, which is fully refundable for all companies (I.e. the tax credit can be carried forward or backwards for companies that may be in a loss position).
By adding an additional incentive to the SR&ED program, the Alberta government has created a broad-based incentive that will further jumpstart research and development in Alberta.
Please stay tuned for further updates and details about Alberta’s SR&ED tax credit