As a company’s SR&ED claims grow more complex — more projects, more staff, larger dollar amounts — the question of who prepares the claim becomes a real operational decision, not just a formality. There’s no universally correct answer, but the trade-offs are consistent enough to reason through clearly.
The Case for In-House Preparation
● Technical staff writing their own project narratives capture nuance a third party can miss
● No dependency on an external party’s calendar during filing season
● Institutional knowledge stays inside the company rather than with a consultant
The Case for Outsourced Preparation
● A consultant who works dozens of claims a year has direct pattern recognition of what the CRA scrutinizes
● Engineering and finance teams stay focused on their actual jobs instead of claim paperwork
● An external reviewer often catches eligible work that internal teams don’t think to flag, because it doesn’t feel like ‘R&D’ to the people doing it
A Middle Path: Hybrid Preparation
Many growing companies land on a hybrid model: technical staff draft raw project notes as work happens, a consultant structures those notes into CRA-ready narratives, and finance handles expenditure calculations in-house with the consultant reviewing methodology. This keeps documentation habits embedded in the engineering workflow while still benefiting from specialist review before filing.
Questions to Ask Before Deciding
● How many hours would technical leads realistically spend writing claim narratives themselves?
● Has a prior claim been reviewed or challenged by the CRA?
● Is the claim complex enough (multiple projects, contractors, capital expenditures) to benefit from specialist experience?
