Tax Holiday for Foreign Experts and Researchers

Is your company carrying out scientific research or experimental development (SR&ED) projects in Quebec? Did you recently hire a foreign expert/researcher to help with those projects? Are you looking for a qualified expert/researcher to conduct your project but can’t find one in Canada?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you should learn about Quebec’s tax holiday for foreign experts and researchers.

Working with R&D partners on the Foreign Expert Tax Holiday was one of the best decisions I have made since moving to Quebec. The program itself had a material impact on my finances, giving me the flexibility to pursue my work in Montreal’s startup ecosystem. As for the R&D Partners team, they made it easy and painless to navigate the system, even helping me re-qualify when I changed roles.

– Isaac Souweine, Partner at Real Ventures

These tax credits are designed to facilitate the recruitment of foreign experts or foreign researchers capable of aiding in the commercialization of innovation activities or the advancement of technology, respectively, within private companies in Quebec. To qualify, the foreign experts/researchers must:

1. Have a recognized thesis-based master’s degree (researchers) or a bachelor’s degree (experts)
2. Not have been a resident of  Canada for two years before the current employment term;
3. Work primarily on areas related to advancing SR&ED (researchers) or commercializing the products of SR&ED projects (experts)

The provincial tax holiday will directly benefit the foreign employee for a maximum of 5 consecutive years and will be applied to the salary received by the expert/researcher on:

• 100% of their taxable income for the first 2 years
• 75% the third year
• 50% the fourth year
• 25% the fifth year

How R&D Partners Can Help

If you have questions or comments about these tax credits, please do not hesitate to contact Sahar Ansary at 1-800-500-7733 for more information.