Who should be writing your SR&ED claim

Most people ask a consultant what they charge before they ask who is going to write it.

A claim is two jobs in one document. Someone has to describe the technical work accurately, and someone has to put the costs together correctly. Different skills, usually different people.

The technical half is the one to ask about.

Whoever writes it has to sit with your engineer, your developer or your formulator and follow the conversation. They need to hear that the third batch separated at the same temperature the second one did, ask what was changed before the fourth, and understand why that change was not obvious. They need to know the difference between trying things until something worked and running a real investigation, because on paper those two look identical when the writer has never done either.

That is why background matters. Someone who trained as an engineer or a scientist has stood in front of an experiment that did not behave, and has had to write up work that did not go as expected. That is exactly what this document is. A PhD is several years of practice at it.

The financial half is real accounting. Salaries go in differently from contractors. Materials have their own rules. There is an overhead method to choose and the choice changes the number. If a grant landed in the same year, that changes it again.

Very few people are strong at both halves. That is normal. What matters is that both are covered by someone who knows that work, and that you know who those people are.

So when you are choosing, ask this.

• Who writes the technical report, and what did they train in? Ask about the person, not the firm.
• Who prepares the financials, and what is their background? This half is accounting, and it should sit with someone who has done it.
• Will I read the report before it is filed? The answer should be yes, with time to actually read it.
• When did you last tell a client that a project did not belong in the claim? This one tells you more than the rest.

Everyone says they would. Ask for the example.

General information current at the date of writing, not advice on a specific engagement or claim.

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