NorthBridge Consulting Services

Autumn 2011

Issue 31

This Issue: Message from the CEOTestimonialWorking With You To Have A Hassle-Free ReviewDates to Remember

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Message from the CEO

Sol AlgrantiWith summer over, like our children refocusing on their education as they are heading back to school, we often find the fall season is a time to refocus ourselves on our businesses. This time to refocus can be taken as an opportunity for you to re-evaluate what you are doing as a company, and determining what is best to help your business continue to grow and prosper.

One of the areas you may want to look at is government tax incentive and funding programs – not only whether you are using them or not, but whether you are using them to their full extent. Canada’s tax incentive and funding programs have been developed to assist Canadian businesses, and many of us are still not recognizing how beneficial they can be. These programs can help you reclaim costs that you have spent over the past year, can help you find funding to go ahead with new initiatives and, when used properly, can make a significant change to your company’s bottom line.

Canada’s Scientific Research & Experimental Development (SR&ED) program is one of these areas where the government provides tax incentives to assist companies who are doing new, experimental and innovative work. This program is one of the most lucrative of Canada’s tax credit programs, and should be something every business seriously considers taking advantage of.

If you aren’t yet using the SR&ED program, now is a good time to consider the benefits that it could bring you – funding through the program can help you hire new employees, purchase new equipment, and further expand your product offerings. If you are already using the SR&ED program, now may be a good time to consider what your current SR&ED consulting partner provides you with, in order to ensure that you are getting the full service that you deserve.

Working with the right SR&ED consulting partner is important to your success with the program. You should be working with a group of individuals who are well-versed in the SR&ED program: they should know how to fully identify SR&ED-eligible projects, how to prepare SR&ED claims that illustrate how these projects are eligible for the SR&ED program, and how to defend these claims against the CRA if a review is called. You should also be working with a team that can train you to more fully document and track the SR&ED projects that you are currently working on, in order to help you increase the value of your future claims. Most of all, your SR&ED consulting partner should be excited to help you succeed with this program.

NorthBridge Consulting Services prides itself on our dedication to and our relationships with our clients. You are our number one priority, and working with you to help you succeed in your claims for the SR&ED program is what we do best. Not only do we work with you every step of the way, ensuring that you understand every aspect of your claim, but we want to help you be more prepared for your future development.

These are exciting times for Canadian businesses. With the world constantly becoming more of a global marketplace, we are faced with challenges, but we are also given new opportunities. Tax incentive and funding programs like the SR&ED program exist to help us succeed in these challenges. We can help you get the full value from this program that you are already eligible for.

Best Regards,
Sol Algranti
Sol Algranti, President & CEO
NorthBridge Consulting Services

Testimonial

"At Double R Steel, we specialize in metal fabricating, and we always deliver what we say we will, when we say we will. With that in mind, we are always very impressed when we work with companies who are able to follow through with what they say they can do for us – NorthBridge was one of these companies. We were given full support through the SR&ED process, and our work on the claim was minimized so we were able to continue with our day to day business while the claim was being prepared. Working with NorthBridge allowed us to discover SR&ED activities that we had previously overlooked, and we were able to greatly increase the value of our claim from what we were previously claiming. We were impressed by the service that NorthBridge provided us with, and we look forward to working with them in the future on a continuous basis."

Don Voisin, President of Double R Steel

Double R Steel, established in 1994 , has built a reputation for on-time delivery and quality workmanship in the pre-fabrication industry. www.doublersteel.com

Working With You To Have A Hassle-Free Review

After you have submitted your SR&ED claim, it’s not uncommon for the CRA to call either a technical or financial review on your SR&ED claim (or occasionally both). If this happens to you, there’s nothing to be worried about – it’s a straightforward process, and working with your NorthBridge team will leave you fully confident and prepared to defend your claim to the reviewer.

A solid foundation for defending your claim is created through the use of the tracking and documentation that shows your SR&ED-eligible activities. Not only do we help you gather all the documentation that you already have created while working on your SR&ED eligible projects, we also help you implement new tracking procedures going forward that will help you prepare for future SR&ED claims. The tracking and documentation pieces that are used to defend your claim can be anything from time sheets, to schematics, to project planning documentations, to prototypes. We will help you determine what the right types of documentation are for your claim.

When it comes to the day of the review, one of your NorthBridge team members will be present with you. While the reviewer wants to speak primarily to you, your NorthBridge account manager will act as a facilitator who will assist with the presentation and support of the claim to ensure that process proceeds as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

Lastly, after the review has been completed, we follow up with the reviewer. Occasionally, there are additional documents that the CRA would like to see – we work with you to provide the additional information to the reviewer, ensuring that the reviewer receives everything that is needed in order to finalize their report on your claim.

Working with your NorthBridge team to prepare for a review is essential when you want to derive most benefit from the SR&ED program. If the CRA contacts you about holding a review, please get in touch with your account manager so we can start working with you to prepare for the review.

Dates to Remember

September 30 March 2010 FYE claims due now
October 31 April 2010 FYE claims due now
November 30 May 2010 FYE claims due now


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