Pre-claim approval sequence
The CRA's published path from request to technical determination.
Open the pre-claim request with the CRA web form; a case number normally follows in two to five business days.
Complete the application in My Business Account; up to three projects can be submitted.
Meet the assigned SR&ED specialist; mandatory for new claimants.
CRA states the determination is issued within eight weeks of a completed application and can hold for up to three years.
Source basis: CRA SR&ED pre-claim approval process
The scientific research and experimental development credit has always carried one structural problem for small firms: the money arrives long after the risk is taken, and the technical eligibility is judged after the fact. The CRA's pre-claim approval process reverses that order. A firm can now ask the CRA to rule on whether planned work qualifies before the work begins, with a determination the agency says is issued within eight weeks of a completed application.
For a small technology, manufacturing, or process-improvement firm, that ruling is more than comfort. It is a document a lender, board, or investor can price.
Who the process is built for
The CRA frames pre-claim approval for Canadian-controlled private corporations, Canadian corporations, and Canadian partnerships with annual gross income under $25 million and standing in good order. Up to three projects can be submitted through CRA My Business Account, and new claimants should expect a mandatory meeting with an SR&ED specialist.
The fit is best when the project has real technological uncertainty the owner can describe: the hypothesis, the experiments planned, who does the work, and what failure would look like. Routine development dressed in R&D language is exactly what the meeting is designed to filter.
The sequence, start to determination
The published sequence is short: open a request through the CRA web form, receive a case number, complete the application in My Business Account, meet the specialist when contacted, and receive the determination. The form itself is minutes of work; the preparation behind it is the project description, and that is where firms should spend their effort.
Approval can remain valid for up to three years, which lets a firm plan a multi-season development program against a known ruling rather than an annual gamble.
What approval does not do
A pre-claim determination approves the science, not the invoices. Payroll allocations, contractor agreements, material costs, prototypes, and test records still have to be kept as the work happens. The firms that lose value at filing time are rarely the ones with weak science; they are the ones reconstructing timesheets in April.
Owners should treat the determination as the anchor of a records system: one project folder, updated as the experiments run, so the eventual claim is an export of what already exists.
Government links used for this briefing
These links point to federal, provincial, territorial, municipal, intergovernmental, or official data sources. Readers should confirm current eligibility and deadlines directly with the issuing government before applying.
Official CRA description of the pre-claim approval request, specialist meeting, and eight-week determination.
Federal / ProgramSR&ED program updatesCanada Revenue AgencyOfficial update page for current SR&ED policy and process changes.
Federal / ComplianceCRA My Business AccountCanada Revenue AgencyThe portal through which pre-claim approval applications are completed.
