Updated September 25, 2026 · Originally published May 6, 2024
Most SR&ED consultants in Canada charge a contingency fee of 10% to 25% of the credits CRA assesses, and many set a minimum fee of around $10,000. That’s the market as I see it in 2026. If you’re a founder or CEO already paying for SR&ED (Scientific Research and Experimental Development) help, here’s what SR&ED consultant fees look like, what the fee should buy you, and when switching is worth it.
The short answer
SR&ED consultants in Canada typically charge 10% to 25% of the credit on contingency, paid once CRA issues its Notice of Assessment and approves the SR&ED claim. Large accounting firms usually sit at the top of that range and independent firms at the bottom. The rate matters less than what it buys: a strong technical interviewer, a complete claim, and real support if CRA reviews it.
How much do SR&ED consultants charge in 2026?
Between 10% and 25% of the credit in most cases, depending on the type of firm. Here’s what I see in the Canadian market as of September 2026:
| Type of firm | Typical contingency fee |
|---|---|
| Large accounting firms | 20% to 25% |
| Mid-size accounting firms | 20% to 25% |
| Large independent SR&ED firms | 10% to 20% |
| Small boutiques and individual consultants | 10% to 20% |
The headline rate is also negotiable. A company paying its consultant 20% once brought a lower competing quote back to them, and the consultant dropped its rate to match. In my experience, large firms will often cut their price to keep a client rather than lose one.
How are SR&ED consulting fees structured?
About 70% of the engagements I see are contingency fees. A contingency fee is a percentage of the credit, payable only once CRA assesses the claim. You pay nothing up front, and the consultant earns nothing unless the claim is assessed.
Fixed fees and hourly billing are mostly used by public companies with very large claims, where a percentage stops making sense. Fixed fees can be surprisingly low: I’ve seen large accounting firms prepare an entire claim for $10,000 to $15,000.
Three details in a contingency agreement matter more than founders expect.
The percentage applies to every credit. Most consultants charge on all credits: federal and provincial, refundable and non-refundable. We do too, and I think that’s fair. A non-refundable credit such as the Ontario Research and Development Tax Credit still offsets corporate tax, and unused amounts can be carried back three years or forward 20 (CRA). But the fee is due at the Notice of Assessment, often years before those credits save you any cash. Plan for it.
The fee falls if CRA cuts the claim, down to a floor. A contingency fee drops with the claim, until it hits the minimum. Take a $60,000 credit that CRA cuts to $30,000. At 20%, the fee should fall to $6,000. With a $10,000 minimum, you pay $10,000: a third of your refund. At GrowWise, our minimum fee is $5,000.
CRA sees the fee. Part 9 of the T661 (the SR&ED claim form) asks for each claim preparer’s billing arrangement, billing rate and total fee. CRA can assess a $1,000 penalty when that information is missing, incomplete or inaccurate. Nobody publishes the market averages, but your own fee is on the record.
What does an SR&ED consultant actually cost you?
The fee, plus your team’s time, plus any credit your claim leaves out. Percentages hide the dollars, so here’s a worked example.
Say you have $600,000 of SR&ED salaries. Under the proxy method, 55% is added for overhead, giving $930,000 of qualified expenditures. At the enhanced 35% rate, that’s a federal refundable credit of about $325,500, before provincial credits (See our SR&ED calculator).
At 10%, the fee is $32,550. At 25%, it’s $81,375. That’s a gap of almost $49,000 on one claim, and it’s worth a conversation. But if a weaker process misses $100,000 of salary that qualified, you lose about $54,250 of credit. That’s more than three times what a five-point lower fee would have saved you.
Then there’s engineering time. My estimate is that a traditional firm needs five to ten hours of your team’s time per project across financial, technical, interview and review work. With us at GrowWise, it’s about two. Across four projects, that’s 20 to 40 hours against eight. If you’re not sure how big your claim would be, the SR&ED calculator gives a quick estimate.
Why do companies switch SR&ED consultants?
Service, almost never price. When a company leaves its consultant, it’s usually for one of three reasons.
The technical interview was weak. Many smaller firms don’t have people with the right technical skills. The consultant doesn’t understand the technology, is away or hard to schedule, or can’t ask the questions that draw out the technological uncertainty (CRA’s term for a problem you couldn’t solve with existing knowledge). A weak interview produces a weak claim, and in my experience, weak claims are more likely to be selected for review.
They were left alone in the review. Some consultants would rather move on to the next client than support one whose claim is under CRA review. That’s exactly when you need them most.
The client did the work. You get a form and a list of information requests. Your team tracks the time, writes the technical narratives and pulls together the financials. The consultant makes some spelling corrections and sends it back for your review. At that point, it’s fair to ask what the fee is for.
Here’s how we approach it at GrowWise. Our supervised AI technology does the heavy lifting for you: an AI interviewer that asks the next best question in any field of science, parsing of invoices, contracts and capital records, and a first draft of the technical narrative. An expert consultant reviews every input. We capture the work monthly or quarterly, while it’s fresh. You pay only when CRA assesses your claim, and CRA review support and platform access are included. Our fees are competitive, especially against the large accounting firms.
What should you check before paying SR&ED consultant fees?
Start with technical depth, because it’s the hardest thing to judge on a sales call. Ask for three references in your field of science. When you speak to each one, ask who actually prepared their clåaim. If that person has left the firm, you may be looking at high turnover. If they wouldn’t be assigned to your file, ask who would, and why. Then look that person up on LinkedIn and check for a technical background close to your work.
Then ask:
- Is CRA review support included, or billed separately?
- What’s the minimum fee, and does it still apply if CRA reduces the claim?
- Which credits does the percentage apply to?
- How many hours will my team spend per project?
- Is the agreement evergreen, annual or multi-year, and how do I exit?
- If I leave, can I take my records with me?
Is AI making SR&ED consultants cheaper?
Not in my experience. Many founders assume they can have AI write the technical narratives themselves. It rarely works, because a strong claim depends on judgement calls: how many projects to claim, how deep to go on each, and what evidence CRA will expect. That takes someone who has seen a lot of claims.
AI is also making software claims harder, and software is the biggest part of the program. Software development made up 42.6% of all SR&ED credits CRA allowed in 2025-26, up from 34.9% three years earlier (CRA program statistics). When an AI coding tool solves a problem on the first try, there may be no technological uncertainty left to claim. How the program adapts, while AI shrinks development teams and solves problems faster, is one of the open questions in SR&ED right now.
When is it not worth switching SR&ED consultants?
When your current consultant already delivers. If you have these four things, stay put:
- A good working relationship.
- A fair price.
- A strong technical person on your file.
- Real support when CRA asks questions.
Some of the best value in the market comes from small specialized consultants who trained at the large firms. They bring the same technical and financial skill at a much lower rate.
Switching also has costs. Multi-year contracts, often three years, can make leaving a breach. Some consultants hold your data in their own systems. And occasionally a board member insists on a particular firm whatever it costs, at which point you’re choosing a consultant for someone else’s reasons.
What I wouldn’t do is file alone to save the fee. A biotech company came to us after preparing a claim of over $1 million internally. CRA selected it for review and cut it by more than 15%. They’d used the old forms and missed tens of thousands of dollars from the higher expenditure limit under Bill C-15. And they couldn’t justify some people’s time, because nobody had recorded who worked on what as the work happened. A good consultant does more than file. They set up that monthly record during the year, so the claim holds up when CRA asks.
For more on judging a consultant beyond price, see how to choose an SR&ED consultant and how to maximize your SR&ED claim without stretching it.
Frequently asked questions
Is a contingency fee better than a fixed fee? For most private companies, generally yes. You pay nothing until CRA assesses the claim, and the consultant only earns when you do. For public companies with very large claims, a fixed fee or hourly billing often makes more sense.
What happens to my SR&ED consultant’s fee if CRA reduces my claim? In a contingency agreement, the fee drops with the claim until it reaches the minimum fee. Below that point you pay the minimum, which can push the effective rate well above the headline percentage. Check how your agreement handles it before you sign.
Do SR&ED consultants charge on non-refundable credits? Usually, yes. Most charge on all credits, federal and provincial, refundable and non-refundable, with the fee due at the Notice of Assessment. Non-refundable credits offset corporate tax over time, so budget for the fee before that benefit arrives.
Does CRA know what I pay my SR&ED consultant? Yes. Part 9 of the T661 asks for each claim preparer’s billing arrangement, billing rate and total fee. Missing, incomplete or inaccurate information can bring a $1,000 penalty.
Can I negotiate SR&ED consulting fees? Usually. In my experience, firms often match a competing quote rather than lose a client. Just make sure a lower rate doesn’t come with less service.
The takeaway
The fee is the first number everyone asks about, and it’s rarely the one that decides whether you got value. Compare the claim, the time and the support.
Send me your last claim and I’ll tell you honestly what I’d do differently. Book 30 minutes with me.
