For businesses with December 31st fiscal year ends, June 30th, 2013 is the absolute deadline for FY2011 SR&ED claims, and the fast-track deadline for FY2012 SR&ED claims. This means that if the FY2011 SR&ED claim is not filed by the end of this month, FY2011 expenses will be deemed ineligible for SR&ED tax credits.
Even if FY2011 has already been filed, it may be advantageous for businesses to consider filing their FY2012 SR&ED claim on time with their tax return. Refundable SR&ED claims that are complete and filed on time with the tax return are placed on a fast-track, and take an average of only 63 days to process, compared with an average of 146 days for those filed after the fast-track deadline. The current service standards from the CRA website are 120 days for a refundable SR&ED claim, and 365 days for a non-refundable SR&ED claim.
