The CRA has recently released an administrative update on the SR&ED filing requirements for partnerships with corporations as members.
Under policies effective as of January 1, 2011, the Form T661 Scientific Research and Experimental Development Expenditures Claim should be filed at the partnership level along with the Partnership Information Return. The T661 should now be filed no later than 12 months after the earliest tax filing due date out of all the members of the partnership (for the tax period in which the partnership’s fiscal period falls). Each member would then be able to meet the deadline to claim the SR&ED investment tax credit (ITC) allocated to them.
A corporation that is a member of a partnership should no longer file Form T661 for the partnership along with its T2, Corporation Income Tax Return. ITCs allocated to corporations by partnerships must be supported by an information slip T5013, Statement of Partnership Income for the ITCs to be processed by the CRA.
A member of a partnership can still file the Form T661 on behalf of the partnership but the SR&ED claim will not be processed unless a partnership information return, in agreement with the Form T661, has been filed.