SR&ED for biotechnology
A protocol can be precise and the biological response can still be uncertain.
For an SR&ED review, the important record is the sequence of hypotheses, experiments and conclusions used to pursue new scientific or technological knowledge.
Routine testing, confirmation and production may sit beside that work in the same program. They do not qualify simply because the broader project is research-intensive.
Questions worth tracing through the lab record
- Assay, process or formulation work where the biological response could not be predicted from available knowledge.
- Bench-to-pilot work where scale changed the behaviour and the team had to test why.
- Investigations into yield, stability, purity or reproducibility limits for which no established solution worked.
- Experiments that rejected a hypothesis and narrowed the technical explanation, even without a successful commercial result.
Separate investigation from confirmation
Testing to a known standard, established analytical work and production by a known method generally fall outside SR&ED. Regulatory and clinical activity requires a fact-specific review. It may be support work only when it directly supports and is commensurate with eligible experimental work.
Let the notebook show the sequence
Lab notebooks, protocol revisions, assay outputs, batch records and analytical data can show what changed between runs and what the team concluded. Record the failed conditions as carefully as the successful one; otherwise the final protocol can make the path look routine after the fact.
SREDlog organizes approved records against the project and connects reviewed costs to the experiments that support them.
Frequently asked questions
Not automatically. Trial administration and regulatory work do not qualify on that basis alone. Testing may be eligible support work only when it directly supports and is commensurate with eligible experimental work, so the purpose and allocation need review.
Testing to a known method or standard is generally routine. Review any separate work in which the team pursued an advancement and tested hypotheses under both CRA requirements.
Keep the protocol version, changed variable, observations, analytical result and conclusion together. Lab notebooks and batch records are more useful when they explain the sequence rather than only the final condition. See documentation requirements.
Keep the path to the final protocol visible
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These industry examples are prompts for a fact-specific review, not categories guaranteed to qualify. Work must be conducted in Canada and meet both current CRA requirements; support work must directly support and be commensurate with eligible work. This is general information, not tax advice, and has not been reviewed by an independent qualified tax professional. See our editorial policy.