Printing, finishing and sign making companies may qualify to receive $20,000 - $500,000 in government funding
for technological advancements and shop-floor experimentation. The process is very complex and time consuming but, with the right help – it
could be done in under 8 hours!
Printing, finishing and sign making companies of all sizes often engage in process experimentation - looking for ways to produce unique and
higher quality products. Recognizing that, the government of Canada offers several funding programs, aimed at making these developments more
affordable, and possible.
For some of the programs, once the money is received, it can be used for anything you want – new equipment or employee
salaries – it’s
your call, and you’ll never have to pay it back!
The application process looks too complex, and many questions come up:
- What steps should your business take to qualify?
- We don’t do R&D – can we qualify?
- How much time and effort will be required?
From actively exploring the Canadian print industry, we discovered that almost any print shop is engaged in several qualifying activities.
Creativity and process solutions are part of any professional printer’s day. Shop-floor
experimentation is
what you do to survive!
How much money is available?
Over $7 Billion Dollars is available through programs such as SR&ED, and IRAP. The government recognizes the high costs of operation in
Canada, and strives to make innovation affordable to any size of operations be it a small print shop with 4 employees, or a large printing
house with hundreds of workers.
- An average print or sign shop, with 5-10 employees usually qualifies for $20,000-$80,000.
- Larger operations may qualify for $80,000-$500,000
What activities qualify?
Any sort of experimentation or attempt to overcome technical difficulty could be considered as qualifying activity for funding. For example:
- Equipment customization – combination of processes to produce new products.
- Unique production processes, or development of new/different products.
- Printing on textiles – experimentation, testing in set up.
- Ink/color profiles experimentation.
- Large format printing – Print on different materials – concerns with reproduction of original – experimentation
to match quality.
- Lamination – experiments with plastics, temperatures, overheating situations.
- Many other activities qualify!
After visiting numerous print shops throughout the GTA, we learned that often printers and sign makers are engaged in qualifying activities,
without even recognizing them as such. Surely, with the demanding application process, it is much easier to identify these activities and properly
describe them after successfully completing several applications. There
are many reasons to consider hiring a consultant.
Assistance and complete support are available!
The application process may be quite complex, and involves several stages.
The applications normally have two parts – technical and financial. The technical part is best to be written by an experienced engineer,
while the financial part comes naturally to a financial professional. It is possible to complete these parts by yourself, but you always run
the risk of missing on a crucial detail, or not using the right language.
For such complex applications, it is really helpful
to hire a consultant. While potentially costly, some companies are purely performance based – this means you are paying them a predetermined
percentage of the funding you actually get:
- No payment upfront
- Fees based on performance
- Easy, step-by-step process
These are good news – you can actually get a free analysis of your company, and prequalify without putting any money upfront. Be careful
of the one-man show though (unless this person is a highly trained engineer, with an expertise in your industry, and also happens to be a chartered
accountant).
There are lots of funding
opportunities available to various industries in Canada – aimed
to encourage and nurture technological developments and innovation. The money available is quite substantial, and highly relevant in the current
state of the economy (and actually one of the main tools used by the government to stimulate the economy).
Applications may look intimidating, and doing it by yourself could be extremely time consuming (but possible). A professional advice and support
may reduce the whole process to as low as 6 hours, and enable you to access highly specialized financial and engineering skills. Collaborating
with an experienced and established consultancy that charges performance-based fees is the best and most recommended way to go.
Call (416) 548-8626 for an instant consultation or email us at info@taxrefundscanada.
About the author:
Nik Rostarchook is a business development associate with TaxRefundsCanada.ca (powered by TRIPOL Canada Inc)
Return to: SR&ED claims related articles
Revised:
November 13, 2009
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