Refundable Scientific Research and Experimental Development Tax Credit 

Currently, a CCPC or a group of associated CCPCs have the potential to claim a refundable credit of up to $700,000 for qualifying expenditures

relating to scientific research and experimental development. The $700,000 is based on an "expenditure limit" of $2,000,000 that is shares among associated corporations. The associated corporation rules in the Income Tax Act sometimes cause the unintended results of associating two or more corporations solely because of independent investments made in the corporations by the same group of otherwise unconnected investors. The 2004 budget proposes that CCPCs that have a group of common investors (which group the Minister of National Revenue is satisfied was not formed to gain access to multiple expenditure limits) will not have to share the $2,000,000 expenditure limit solely because those investors collectively hold a majority interest in each corporation. That is, each corporation is such a group will have access to the $2,000,000 expenditure limit. The change will apply to taxation years that end after March 22, 2004.