In this series of blog posts, we have already covered the 5 SR&ED questions and looked at four questions in further detail. Here’s the final question you need to answer to qualify for SRED eligibility.
Documented Evidence
The fifth SRED eligibility question that CRA uses is whether a record of the hypothesis and the test results were kept while the work was being done. CRA wants the docs to have been created at the time the work was happening, and we know from experience that they have ways of determining the age of documents if they want to do a forensic test on them. Basically, they want to see why the work claimed was necessary for the resolution of the technological uncertainties. There are many docs routinely created in a business, and if you have done SR&ED, you probably have a lot more evidence of your work than you realize.
One reason for the documentation, and the one we hear CRA reviewers most often tendering, is so that they have proof that the work was done. We don’t accept that and usually ask how did this product come into existence if the work wasn’t done? A more reasonable reason for this requirement is to ensure that the knowledge is preserved and that what has been accomplished can be replicated.
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