In the world of finance more often than not today is better than tomorrow, and when it comes to borrowing against your SRED claims your ability to monetize SRED tax credits for working capital is the ultimate win win situation. Here is why!
The Canadian governments Scientific Research and Experimental Development (aka ‘SRED’, ‘sr&ed’) program provides in the area of 4 Billion dollars per annum to Canadian businesses in the form of a non repayable tax credit cheque. The only reason you wouldn’t get your cheque is if you had corporate tax arrears, and that’s still a good thing we think, because at lease then the government offsets your tax arrears with your credit. (By the way, we don’t recommend tax arrears as a financing strategy!)
Your company is using the program for all the right reasons, i.e. improving products and services, staying competitive, etc. But many firms either haven’t heard of or lose sight of the fact that the SRED tax credits can be even more ‘accessible ‘ if you will, when you borrow or finance your claim.
Turning your SREd tax credits into valuable cash flow and working capital moves you one step ahead of your competitors we have always maintained to clients. Why. It’s simply the old finance adage that a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow, as it can be re invested in your operations for a variety of reasons.
A typical question we get from clients considering the financing of a SRED claim is ‘ what are we allowed to use the funds for?’. And of coruse they love the answer, which is simply for any general company purpose you choose – typically that becomes reduction of working capital, clearing up or lowering payables, and just general day to day operations.
Financing your SRED claims in essence ‘ invigorates your working capital.
So who finances these claims and how would be describe the process. Is it complicated; easy, how long does it take? Those are the typical client questions in consideration of SRED finance.
We can make a broad pretty safe statement that banks in Canada don’t finance sr&Ed claims for your tax credits. If they do, it is in conjunction with other security and arrangements you have with your bank. Most firms we talk to either have approached their bank, been declined, or simply have not been aware that sr Ed credits can be financeable.
We recommend you speak to a trusted, experienced and credible Canadian business financing advisor who is knowledgably in the area of SRED tax credit finance. That will shorten your process, maximize the amount you can receive under you claim, and in almost all cases simply reduce the time and effort you might normally expend to investigate SRED financing.
The reality is that a SRED finance expert can usually originate a full financing of your claim in a manner of a couple weeks, allowing for simple basics such as an application, review of your actual SRED technical filing, etc.
So, can you borrow against SRED claims? The answer is of course yes. Should you? That’s your decision, but if you need cash flow and working capital today from a non repayable government tax credit that you certainly know what to do now!
