Grants of $50,000 for up to 100% of internal labour costs plus items like patent application costs
The National Research Council has run the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) for a number of years. Companies which are eligible for SR&ED credits have also received IRAP funding, but IRAP reduces the amount of the SR&ED credits. However, IRAP’s new Small Project Accelerated Review Process may offer companies the ability to get support from both programs. This program can fund up to $50,000 and covers up to 100% of internal labour costs (with 65% overhead added), 75% of external contractor costs and 75% of total costs. The most important change is that the IRAP covers a wide variety of activities beyond those eligible for SR&ED. These would include patent application costs, financial restructuring, competitive market intelligence studies and many other activities. A company can ask IRAP to fund these activities which complement the SR&ED eligible activities, thus still allowing the full financial advantage of each program.
Principal Residences Tax Exemption
What qualifies for the principal residence tax exemption and how the exemption works
The principal residence tax exemption is an issue that we are frequently asked questions about. Often we’re asked about what qualifies and how the exemption works.
Generally any habitation qualifies. It can be a house, a cottage, a mobile home or even a houseboat. Plus about an acre and a quarter of land. More land might qualify depending on the circumstances.
This is how the exemption works:
If you own only one residence and you’ve ordinarily lived in it at least part of every year since you bought it, a capital gain will be exempt from taxation.
Another common situation is when two residences are owned by a couple, say a condo and a cottage. When they sell the cottage they will need to estimate the capital gain on the other residence as well so that they designate the residence with the higher appreciation in value as their principal residence. If the gain will be higher on the cottage and it was ordinarily inhabited on a regular basis every year then they can deem the cottage as their principal residence and be exempt from paying taxes on its capital gain.
But if they had previously sold a house, say before they bought the condo, and the house had been claimed as the principal residence, then only the increase in value of the cottage since the housewas sold would be exempt.
If a residence was owned prior to 1982 the situation is more complicated because before 1982 both spouses could designate a residence as a principal residence; in effect a couple could have two principal residences at any point in time.
Here are a few more situations where you should obtain some professional advice:
If there will be a change in use, such as converting an income-producing property to a principal residence;
If a couple is separating or divorcing; and
If you are purchasing a residence such a vacation home and you have children over the age of 18 you may wish to explore some tax planning opportunities.
We hope you’ve found this discussion about principal residences useful.
