TORONTO, March 15, 2022 /CNW/ -- Boast, the tax credit and R&D intelligence fintech company, today announced significant new additions to its AI-research and development (R&D) tax credit platform. The additions include over 30 data integrations, on-the-fly R&D claim time estimates, views, and review processes, and streamlined R&D funding for Canadian businesses.
Boast's mission is to accelerate the innovation of businesses through R&D tax credits and insights about their R&D spending. To do this, the company has made its tax credit software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform more automated to save clients time and hassle.
Integrating tax credit-eligible data has been improved by out-of-the-box integrations with the most popular payroll, accounting, and project tracking systems.
"The key to making R&D tax credit automation better for everyone is making data integrations easier,'' said Alex Popa, Boast CEO and Co-Founder. "We reduce the total claims process each year from 100+ hours for a small business down to just 6-8 hours. That saved time can be invested instead into innovation acceleration where the value and outcomes are much more impactful for a business."
For the tech and innovation sector, the Liberals promise to create an agency meant to further the development of Canadian-made technologies. The Canada Advanced Research Projects Agency (CARPA) would be a counterpart to the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects (DARPA), which helped pioneer the development of technologies like GPS mapping. The Liberals are promising an initial $2 billion for the agency.
The platform also includes a promise to reform the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) Program. The Liberals say they will “reduce red tape and the need for consultants” in order to better align eligible expenses to today’s innovation and research and development (R&D) needs. The platform promises follow commitments made by the Conservative Party of Canada, which put out its platform three weeks ago. The Conservative party platform promised changes to SR&ED and a review of all innovation programs at ISED and across the government “to ensure they are as simple as possible, to remove duplication, and to ensure that all innovation spending benefits Canada.”
The SR&ED tax credit has been extended for an additional five years, until August 31, 2027.
This tax credit is available to businesses of all sizes and sectors that conduct research and development activities. All British Columbians are expected to benefit from the long-term economic growth resulting from research and development.
n 2019, I wrote an article on how the CRA had become tougher on SR&ED claims despite the declining number of reviews. However, the latest data (obtained via an Access to Information and Privacy request) shows that the CRA has been working hard to support the tech community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2020 was brutal for most and an opportunity for others. One interesting knock-on effect of the pandemic, however, has been the accelerated rate of digital adoption in many sectors of the economy. With technology companies driving the digital economy in the country, the Canadian government and the CRA have worked hard to support tech companies throughout this unprecedented year.
There are two main areas where the CRA is working to support our digital economy:
Highly trained SR&ED tax credit professionals comprise the Innovative Recovery Group. We assist businesses throughout Canada in preparing and submitting SRED tax credit applications.