The essential role of Timesheets in obtaining SR&ED credits could not be emphasized more strongly as the CRA has been multiplying technical audits in recent years.
It should be noted that a timesheet software is an essential tool for any service company. Even more, experienced managers consider their Timesheets as the cornerstone of their business.
More than ever, time management and billing issues are one of the main obstacles to the growth and profitability of service companies. It is one of the most important business functions, as essential as payroll, accounting or project management.
Timesheets and evaluation of SR&ED salary expenditures
Recently, as part of its new technical audits, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has focused more attention on certain critical expenditures; namely, the reasonableness of salaries charged to research and development activities.
In particular, the CRA routinely conducts a comprehensive timesheet analysis.
However, the fact is that the case law in this area demonstrates that providing explicit and detailed timesheets is an almost infallible method of unequivocally justifying eligible SR&ED activities.
Consequently, providing only a time estimate of the R&D activities entails a high risk of either revision or refusal of the claimed credits, putting the burden of proof entirely on the company.
Improve your work processes with Timesheet software
Time tracking allows both managers and employees to improve the way they work, resulting in increased productivity and profitability.
With accurate data in hand, you can improve many processes:
– Compile time spent on SR&ED activities
– Identify tasks that generate non-billable hours
– Identify tasks that exceed initial estimates
– Identify processes that consistently exceed estimated hours
– Calculate time spent on non-value added administrative tasks
– When combined with Jira or DevOps, calculate the projection of a project
Review of the main benefits of Timesheets for the Service Enterprise
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Ensure profitable client billing
Time tracking is essential for any service business. There is often a fine line between a profitable project and a loss-making one. You don’t want to underestimate the time it takes to complete a project, nor do you want to over-bill your clients.
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Keeping your projects profitable
To keep your business profitable, you need to determine your costs and calculate the number of hours spent on each project.
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Improve the pricing of your services with Timesheets
Adapt your billing rate according to the tasks performed or according to an employee rate or even according to a customer rate.
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Improve the accuracy of estimates
Your library of projects will also allow you to better estimate the time required to complete a project.
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Improve employee management
Time tracking will give you a precise idea of the productivity of your teams and employees.
Conclusion
Time tracking is essential for project reviews (post mortem) with clients, improving expense management and resource and process management in general.
And now, your timesheet software will be your insurance policy in the process of claiming SR&ED credits from the CRA.