Bill C-15 (Royal Assent March 26, 2026) doubled the enhanced-rate SR&ED expenditure limit from $3M to $6M, keeping the 35% refundable investment tax credit and raising the taxable-capital phase-out range to $15M to $75M, for tax years beginning after December 15, 2024. The CRA also launched an optional pre-claim approval process on April 1, 2026 that gives project eligibility determinations within about eight weeks before you incur costs.
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Canada expands SR&ED: 35% credit now covers up to $6M in R&D spend
Why this matters for founders
A Canadian CCPC doing R&D can now recover up to roughly $2.1M in refundable credits a year (35% of $6M) instead of about $1.05M, so budget more aggressively for engineering and file for pre-claim approval before starting a project to de-risk the claim.
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