SR&ED Tax Credit Strategy & Automation

Yes. The Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) program is designed to support technological advancement, not just successful outcomes. If your Canadian company attempted to resolve a technological uncertainty, your experimental development activities may still qualify, even if the project failed or was abandoned.

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) typically processes complete claims within 60-120 days. If selected for a technical or financial review (audit), it may take up to 180 days. Accurate documentation and real-time data, like that collected by Chrono, help ensure your claim moves faster through the funding process.

You typically have 18 months from the end of your fiscal year to file a claim with your tax return. This deadline is firm. Late submissions are not accepted, even for eligible project expenses. That’s why real-time SR&ED tracking with Chrono helps Canadian businesses stay on top of every eligible hour.

Yes. Chrono tags eligible investments across hours, contributors, and projects, typically uncovering more claimable work than manual reviews. This is especially valuable for business owners running multiple initiatives in the labour market. Initiatives can include private sector investments, critical minerals projects, clean technologies, electric vehicle supply chain, innovations in heavy industries, and more.

Yes. Chrono is designed to support federal funding programs like SR&ED by making audits fast and easy. Every record is time-stamped, traceable, and backed by source data from tools like Jira and Git. Outputs are structured in CRA-aligned formats, reducing stress for both business owners and SR&ED consultants during the tax return and funding process. This information can also guide your other investment decisions.

No. Canadian-controlled private corporations (CCPCs) can receive refundable federal funding even with no taxable income since March 2019. This makes the SR&ED program a key source of financial services support for early-stage startups and innovative projects within Canada’s digital economy.

No. Filing an SR&ED claim does not inherently increase your audit risk. However, incomplete records regarding the cost of investments or vague business plans may trigger questions. Chrono reduces this risk by automatically generating audit-ready documentation with time-stamped logs and tool-sourced evidence. As such, it'll be easier to reap genuine economic opportunities in national and international markets.

Chrono integrates with your engineering stack (tools like Jira, Git, and calendar systems) to auto-collect development activities that align with SR&ED criteria. It maps your major investments to eligible expenditures and CRA guidelines in real time, eliminating the need to reconstruct timelines manually. Perfect for digital innovation, clean growth projects, and government grants beyond the SR&ED.

Chrono provides SR&ED consultants with real-time access to engineering data, reducing reliance on manual documentation and spreadsheets. This streamlines the claim process, improves documentation quality for eligible expenses, and ensures claims reflect the actual development activities behind your digital innovation or clean growth projects.

Not at all. Chrono runs passively in the background, requiring no workflow changes or extra tasks from your team. They will continue focusing on building your innovative projects, while Chrono captures their contributions and aligns them with eligible project expenses. We aim to help Canadian businesses stay SR&ED-compliant without interrupting day-to-day productivity.