A press release has been issued about some upcoming changes to the SR&ED program. A few points mentioned by Minister Blackburn today, while addressing the 13th Annual Tax Practitioner Information Session, relate to upcoming changes to the SR&ED program:
- starting on April 1st, 2010, reviewers will be spending more time explaining the program (requirements, application process, decisions made, etc) to claimants. Starting on the same date, if the CRA finds a company is missing eligible projects, they will let that company know sooner so they can resubmit their claim within the filing deadline.
- beginning in July, the CRA will be posting quarterly reports on their website as to how long it takes for them to review an SR&ED claim from start to finish.
These changes are a result of some of the feedback they have been receiving about the SR&ED program lately, especially in relation to the consistency of the program.
Minister Blackburn has also said that there will be more changes to the program in the future – we will be reporting on these changes as soon as we have word about them.