SR&ED for aerospace
Aerospace is one of Canada's deepest engineering sectors, and it runs into physical limits that don't always have a known answer — which is exactly where SR&ED lives. The challenge is usually drawing the line between genuine development and the enormous amount of rigorous but routine work around it.
Difficulty and precision aren't the test. Technological uncertainty is.
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Where the eligible work usually is
- Meeting a weight, strength, thermal or aerodynamic target that the established methods couldn't reach.
- Working with a new material or structure — composites, additive parts — whose behaviour under your conditions was uncertain.
- Developing a manufacturing or assembly process where the outcome genuinely couldn't be predicted.
- Avionics, controls or systems work where a new constraint made the result uncertain and you had to resolve it systematically.
What usually doesn't qualify
Designing to established aerospace standards and reference designs, certification testing that confirms compliance, routine maintenance and overhaul, and build-to-print manufacturing generally aren't SR&ED. The work can be exacting and safety-critical and still not involve the technological uncertainty the credit is for.
Evidence from test and analysis
Aerospace programs generate rigorous records: test-article results, ground, flight and wind-tunnel data, simulation-versus-test correlation, material coupon testing, and engineering change history. SREDlog organizes them against the project so each claimed cost ties back to the test or analysis that supports it. Your data stays isolated to your workspace and encrypted.
Frequently asked questions
Usually not. Testing that confirms a design meets a known standard is routine. The experimental work earlier — where the outcome was genuinely uncertain — is the eligible part.
Only the portion, if any, where meeting the spec required resolving a real technological unknown. Building to an established spec with known methods is routine engineering.
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This guide is general information, not tax advice. SR&ED rules, rates and limits change, so confirm the current figures with the CRA or your advisor before you file.