How to document your SR&ED project

Documenting your SR&ED project means proving three things: real technological uncertainty, a systematic approach to solving it, and an advancement of knowledge. In concrete terms, you must keep, during the work, a technical narrative, a follow-up of time by employee, test records, records of decisions and a financial follow-up of eligible expenses.

The decisive rule is simple: document during the work, never only at the end of the year. This is often what distinguishes a defensible case from a fragile one.

Progrès Conseils helps SMEs structure this documentation before filing, identify flaws and defend SR&ED files with clear evidence.

Here’s what an SR&ED file must demonstrate, what to record on a daily basis and what practices to put in place right now.

The three questions your application must answer

Eligibility for SR&ED is based on three conditions. Your documentation exists to answer each of them clearly.

1. Was there any technological uncertainty?

SR&ED begins where there is no longer enough available knowledge. You must show that achieving your goal was not easy for a competent person in the field, because a technological obstacle remained to be overcome. It is not enough to say that the project was complex: it is necessary to explain what was unknown, uncertain or impossible to solve with current methods.

2. Have you followed a systematic approach?

Random trial and error is not a scientific approach. A structured approach must be demonstrated: formulate hypotheses, design trials to test them, measure the results, adjust, repeat. Your experimental records are proof of this logic.

3. Has there been a technological advancement?

The project must generate new knowledge, even if the business result is not what was hoped for. An attempt that demonstrates that a pathway is not working can also be an important learning experience. So document what you’ve learned, not just what you’ve achieved.

What to document on a daily basis

The winning documentation is contemporary: it is born during the project. It doesn’t have to be heavy, but it should be real, dated, and connected to the right project.

• The technical narrative : the objective, the uncertainty, the hypotheses tested, the constraints encountered and the results obtained.
• Time tracking : the hours spent by each employee on eligible activities, by project and by period.
• Test and result records : lab notebooks, test logs, measured data, prototype versions, captures, or technical reports.
• Traces of the approach : technical emails, minutes of meetings, design decisions, problems encountered and solutions explored.
• Financial monitoring : salaries, materials consumed, external contracts and, where applicable rules allow, certain capital expenditures, broken down by project.

To be set up now

The biggest risk is to wait until the end of the fiscal year to rebuild the memory file. Here’s a simple method to install at the beginning of the project.

Costly mistakes

A few pitfalls often recur and weaken projects that are nevertheless eligible:

• Reconstruct documentation at the end of the fiscal year, from memory.
• Confusing routine development with SR&ED: Applying known practices is generally not enough.
• Describe primarily the commercial outcome of the product instead of the resolved technological uncertainty.
• Not tying time, testing and expense to a specific project.
• Documenting successes, but forgetting about unsuccessful attempts, even though they often explain the advancement of knowledge.

What the new 2025-2026 context changes

The SR&ED program has been the subject of modernization and enhancement measures, including a limit on eligible expenditures at the higher enhanced rate and the return of certain capital expenditures to the eligible base. These changes may broaden the interest of the program for some SMEs, particularly in equipment-intensive sectors.

But these changes do not diminish the importance of evidence. On the contrary: the larger or more diversified the expenses claimed, the clearer the documentation must be. The application rules, the effective dates and the eligible expenses must always be verified according to the specific situation of the business.

Our SR&ED department structures this documentation with your teams, verifies the technical and financial coherence of the file, and then helps you defend it in the event of questions from the CRA.

Documenting is securing your credit

A well-documented SR&ED project is a more defensible tax credit. The reflex to be installed is simple: record the uncertainty, the approach, the trials, the expenses and the learnings over the course of the activities. The rest, tax arrangement and defence of the case, can then be based on solid evidence.

Want to know if your documentation practices would hold up in the event of an exam? Have your SR&ED documentation audited : our specialists can identify flaws, prioritize patches and structure your evidence before filing.

Note of caution: the rules, rates, ceilings and eligible expenses may vary depending on the dates of application, the type of company, the nature of the work and the expenses incurred. The CRA’s official sources and applicable texts should be checked when preparing or filing an application.