Provincial SR&ED credits compared: ON, BC, QC, AB

Comparing provincial SR&ED credits used to be a matter of looking up four rates. That is over. After Bill C-15 received Royal Assent on March 26, 2026, the provinces stopped moving together, and Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec and Alberta now sit in four genuinely different positions. One abolished its SR&ED credit outright. One has told claimants, in writing, that its own framework carries on unchanged. If you are still running a single set of assumptions across a client book, two of these will cost you.

At a glance

Province	Credit	Rate	Refundable	Limit or cap
Ontario	OITC	8%	Yes (CCPCs only)	$3M as published (Nov 2024)
Ontario	ORDTC	3.5%	No	Carry back 3, forward 20
BC	BC SR&ED	10%	Yes (CCPCs and ECPCs)	$6M, aligned to federal
BC	BC SR&ED	10%	No (on the excess)	Carry back 3, forward 10
Quebec	CRIC	30% then 20%	Yes	30% up to $1M above threshold
Alberta	IEG	8%, or 20% above base	Yes	$4M of annual spending

• Quebec's SR&ED credit no longer exists. The CRIC replaced it for tax years beginning after March 25, 2025 (Information Bulletin 2025-6, October 10, 2025).
• Alberta has not harmonized with Bill C-15, and excludes the restored federal capital from the IEG base (Alberta TRA, Guide to Claiming the Innovation Employment Grant, June 30, 2026).
• BC made its credit permanent in Budget 2026 (gov.bc.ca, updated April 20, 2026).
• Provincial credits reduce the expenditures you can claim federally (CRA, updated April 1, 2026).

The federal baseline everything stacks on

The federal credit is 15% basic, with an enhanced 35% refundable rate for CCPCs up to the expenditure limit. Bill C-15 raised that limit from $3 million to $6 million, widened the taxable-capital phase-out to a $15 million to $75 million band, extended the enhanced rate to eligible Canadian public corporations, and restored capital expenditures made after December 15, 2024 (CRA, SR&ED news and updates, updated May 25, 2026). It applies for tax years beginning after December 15, 2024, so it reaches back into years your clients may have already filed.

One thing to pin down before modelling: the provincial credit is not free money sitting beside the federal one. CRA is direct about the grind, saying provincial and territorial R&D credits "will reduce the expenditures you can claim for SR&ED" (CRA, updated April 1, 2026).

Ontario: two credits, and a silence worth noting

Ontario runs two credits, both administered by CRA. The Ontario Innovation Tax Credit is a refundable 8% on SR&ED performed in Ontario, available to Canadian-controlled private corporations only. The Ontario Research and Development Tax Credit is a non-refundable 3.5% against Ontario tax payable, carried back three years or forward twenty, and it is the one a public or foreign-controlled corporation claims instead (ontario.ca).

That split matters more this year than last. A Canadian public corporation that now qualifies for the federal enhanced 35% rate still gets no OITC in Ontario.

The OITC has its own limit and phase-outs, which are not the federal ones. Ontario's published expenditure limit is $3 million, reduced when prior-year federal taxable income exceeds $500,000 and eliminated at $800,000, or when prior-year taxable capital exceeds $25 million and eliminated at $50 million.

Here is the honest part. Both Ontario pages were last updated on November 27, 2024, before Bill C-15, and Ontario has published nothing about whether its $3 million OITC limit follows the federal move to $6 million. Ontario's rules draw on the federal definition of the expenditure limit, which points toward it following automatically, but that is an inference rather than a source. Until Ontario says so, model at $3 million and flag the exposure.

British Columbia: permanent, and aligned

BC is the cleanest of the four. Budget 2026 made the credit permanent, which retires the recurring "the BC credit expires next year" conversation for good.

CCPCs claim a refundable 10% of the lesser of their qualified BC expenditures and the expenditure limit, and Budget 2026 extended that refundable credit to eligible Canadian public corporations for tax years beginning on or after December 16, 2024. Above the refundable amount, any qualifying corporation can claim a non-refundable 10%, carried back three years or forward ten. BC also took the federal changes wholesale: the $6 million limit, the restored capital expenditures, and the $15 million to $75 million phase-out. The deadline is 18 months after the tax year ends (gov.bc.ca). One trap: CRA's own provincial credits page is dated January 2024 and still describes BC with a $3 million limit, so cite the BC page rather than CRA for BC figures.

Quebec: the SR&ED credit is gone

This is the change most likely to embarrass someone in a client meeting. Quebec did not adjust its R&D credits, it abolished them. Information Bulletin 2025-6 names the casualties, starting with "the tax credit for scientific research and experimental development," along with the university research and research consortium credits.

In their place is the tax credit for research, innovation and commercialization. The CRIC is refundable at 30% on qualified expenditures above an exclusion threshold up to a maximum of $1 million, and 20% above that (quebec.ca, updated July 7, 2026). It applies for tax years beginning after March 25, 2025.

Three mechanics will catch you out. The exclusion threshold is the greater of $50,000 or the summed basic personal amounts for each employee, prorated for time on eligible work, so small claims can be wiped out entirely. Qualified expenditures now include property acquisition costs, though not buildings, land, or a right to use either, and 50% of amounts paid to a subcontractor for work carried out in Quebec. And the CRIC does not stack: a corporation cannot benefit from both the CRIC and another credit under the Québec tax system on the same expenditure. Revenu Québec still administers it, and Quebec's own guidance confirms that the Canada Revenue Agency carries out the scientific review of the R&D work.

Alberta: the IEG, and a framework that carries on

Alberta eliminated its SR&ED credit effective January 1, 2020 and replaced it with the Innovation Employment Grant. The IEG pays 8% on eligible R&D spending in Alberta up to the firm's base level of spending, its average qualifying spend over the previous two years, and 20% above that base. Benefits are capped at $4 million of annual R&D spending, and the grant phases out between $10 million and $50 million in taxable capital (alberta.ca).

Now the part to write down. Alberta's own Guide to Claiming the Innovation Employment Grant, last updated June 30, 2026, states that the framework it sets out "continues to apply in light of the recent legislative changes to the federal Scientific Research and Experimental Development tax incentive program." Alberta made one targeted adjustment rather than harmonizing. The guide directs claimants to use the federal qualified SR&ED expenditures at line 559 of the T661 for taxation years ending before December 16, 2024, and the federal current SR&ED expenditures at line 557 for years ending after December 15, 2024. Line 557 is the current-expenditure subtotal; capital sits separately on line 558. The practical effect is that the capital expenditures Ottawa just restored earn federal ITC and contribute nothing to the Alberta IEG.

Set that against the federal position and the divergence gets concrete. Your Alberta client's federal claim uses a $6 million limit and a $15 million to $75 million band. The same client's IEG still uses $4 million and $10 million to $50 million. A company at $30 million of taxable capital now has an unreduced federal expenditure limit and a partially ground IEG in the same tax year.

What the divergence means for your practice

The habit worth breaking is treating the provincial credit as a percentage bolted onto a federal number you already calculated. That worked while the provinces tracked Ottawa. It does not describe 2026. Quebec runs a different credit with a different base and a threshold that can zero out a small claimant. Alberta kept its own framework and wrote the restored federal capital out of the calculation. Ontario has an untested limit and no guidance. BC is the only one you can model straight through from the federal figures.

The expenditure limit is now a per-jurisdiction question, and two items belong on a watch list: whether Ontario confirms $6 million, and whether Alberta harmonizes. Check the province before you quote a number, and rebuild any internal calculator that assumes the province follows Ottawa. The federal enhancement is real money, and in two of these four provinces it does not flow through.

Frequently asked questions

Which provinces still have an SR&ED tax credit?

Ontario and British Columbia have credits tied to the federal SR&ED definitions. Quebec abolished its SR&ED credit and replaced it with the CRIC for tax years beginning after March 25, 2025. Alberta ended its SR&ED credit in 2020 and offers the Innovation Employment Grant instead.

Do provincial R&D credits reduce the federal SR&ED claim?

Yes. CRA states that provincial and territorial R&D tax credits will reduce the expenditures you can claim for SR&ED. They stack, but the provincial amount grinds the federal base, so model them together.

Did the provinces adopt the federal $6 million expenditure limit?

British Columbia did, for tax years beginning on or after December 16, 2024. Alberta did not, and its June 2026 claiming guide switches the IEG input to the T661's current-expenditure line, which keeps the restored federal capital out of the Alberta calculation. Ontario has published nothing since November 2024, so its OITC limit remains $3 million as published.

What replaced Quebec's SR&ED tax credit?

The tax credit for research, innovation and commercialization, refundable at 30% above an exclusion threshold up to $1 million and 20% beyond that. It cannot be combined with another Quebec credit on the same expenditure.