Form T1322: how to complete the SR&ED pre-claim approval application

This is an independent guide. ClearSRED is not affiliated with the Canada Revenue Agency. For the eligibility rules and whether pre-claim approval suits you, start with our pre-claim approval overview. This page covers how to fill out the form itself.

What does Form T1322 ask for?

The form is four pages. Pages 1 and 2 hold Part 1, the Part 2 for your first project and the Part 3 certification; pages 3 and 4 hold extra copies of Part 2 for a second and third project. Here are the key rules as of October 2026.

What do you need before you start?

You need a pre-claim approval case number, a clear picture of the planned project, and your own planning documents. Get the case number first through the CRA's case number request. Existing claimants in good standing hear back within 2 business days in My Business Account. Other businesses get a phone call within 5 business days.

Check eligibility before you write anything. Your business must operate in Canada, have gross business income under $25 million, and be in good standing. The project must be new work that hasn't been claimed before. Our PCA eligibility checker runs through the criteria in about two minutes.

How do you fill out Part 1 (general information)?

Part 1 identifies the business and links the form to your case.

• Line 010, business name: the registered name. For a partnership, use the partnership's name.
• Line 012, business number: all 15 characters (for example, 123456789RC0001).
• Line 014, total number of projects: maximum 3. Group work into projects the way the CRA's project guidance describes. Don't split one uncertainty across several projects.
• Line 016, pre-claim approval case number: the number the CRA gave you. Use the same number when you upload.

What goes in Part 2, Section A (project identification)?

Section A is short and factual. Complete a separate Part 2 for each project.

• Line 020, project title: a clear, specific title. If two projects have similar names, number them.
• Line 022, anticipated start date (year and month): the CRA defines the start as the point when planned work begins to resolve the uncertainty. That is not the date the product idea came up.
• Line 024, estimated total SR&ED expenditures: the CRA gives no method. Use a figure you can explain from your project plan and staffing. Approval covers technical eligibility only; expenditures can still be reviewed when you claim.
• Line 026, field of science or technology code: choose from Appendix 1 of Guide T4088. The CRA uses it for statistics only, and it can differ from your usual business field.
• Lines 028 to 032, technical contact: name, position title, phone and extension of the person best able to explain the technical work. That person, or another knowledgeable employee, must attend the CRA meeting. Name someone from your own team.

How do you write Part 2, Section B (project description)?

Section B is where the application is won or lost. The CRA asks for technical facts in plain language, using the terms your team uses, within a strict word limit for each line. Draft from your internal planning documents and put extra detail in the attachments.

Line 042: the scientific or technological uncertainty (maximum 500 words)

The form asks: what uncertainty do you aim to address, what is the objective, and what new knowledge or improved capability are you seeking? Give brief context, state the objective, then name the specific technical unknown. An uncertainty is something a competent professional in your field could not resolve using standard practice. It is not a business risk or a deadline.

Line 043: due diligence (maximum 700 words)

Explain what you checked to confirm the uncertainty can't be resolved with existing knowledge. The CRA lists literature reviews, patents, standards, vendor documentation and expert consultations. Include any trials of existing approaches and what they showed. Name the specific sources and why each falls short. A line like "we researched the market" won't do.

Line 044: planned work, hypotheses and approach (maximum 900 words)

Describe the systematic investigation you plan during the approval period of up to 3 years. State your initial hypotheses or proposed solutions, the experiments or analyses that will test them, and how you will judge the results. The CRA accepts that hypotheses change as testing goes on. Say whether you will use contractors or outside labs and what they will do.

Worked example: a weak vs a strong line 042

Fictional example. "Northlake Logistics Software" and its project are made up for illustration. They aren't a real company or a real CRA submission.

Northlake plans to build a route-optimization engine that re-plans delivery routes for 5,000 vehicles in under 2 seconds whenever a new order or traffic event arrives.

Weak answer

We are building an innovative, AI-powered routing platform that will disrupt the logistics industry. It is technically challenging because no competitor offers real-time routing at our scale, and we are not sure we can deliver it by our Q3 launch. The objective is to win enterprise customers.

Why it fails: it states a business goal and a schedule risk, not a technical unknown. "Innovative" and "challenging" are claims, not evidence. A reviewer can't tell what knowledge is missing or why a capable engineer couldn't build it with known methods.

Stronger answer (excerpt)

Northlake develops dispatch software for regional carriers. The objective is a re-planning engine that updates routes for 5,000 vehicles within 2 seconds of a new event while keeping total route cost within 3% of an offline optimum.

Established approaches do not meet both constraints together. Exact vehicle-routing solvers we tested hit the cost target but took minutes at this fleet size. Standard insertion heuristics met the latency target but drifted well past the cost target as events accumulated over a shift. It is not known whether an incremental approach that re-optimizes only the affected neighbourhood of the route graph can hold cost within 3% over a full shift without periodic full re-solves, nor how neighbourhood size should be bounded to stay under 2 seconds. Resolving this would give us new knowledge of the trade-off between neighbourhood size, latency and cost drift for dynamic routing at this scale.

Why it works: it gives measurable targets, shows that known methods fall short on specific points (detailed further at line 043), and names the exact unknown. Line 044 can then follow with hypotheses about neighbourhood bounds and a test plan. For more on how this applies to code, see SR&ED for software development.

What goes in Section C (who prepared Section B)?

Section C records who wrote the project description. Complete either line 050 or line 054, not both.

• Lines 050 and 052: tick 050 if an employee of the business prepared Section B, and enter their name at 052.
• Lines 054 and 056: tick 054 if an external consultant prepared it, and enter their name at 056.
• Lines 058 and 060: if you ticked 054, enter the consultant's firm (058) and the firm's business number (060).

Disclose outside help accurately. The business is responsible for the application whoever prepared it, so read the consultant's draft carefully and make sure your engineers agree with every sentence.

What supporting documents does Section D require?

The form says you must provide documentation created by your business to support Section B. Without it, your application is not complete. A consultant can help organize and edit these documents, but they should be your team's own records. The CRA's examples:

• Project planning documents: project plans, Gantt charts, work breakdown structures, schedules or planning briefs showing timeline, milestones and phases.
• Planned internal controls: how you will track SR&ED time and costs and keep records as the work happens, such as time-tracking, documentation protocols, internal reviews and experiment logs.
• Due-diligence references: articles, technical papers, meeting minutes, design specifications, architecture diagrams, photographs or other evidence tied to the project.
• Team list: current and prospective team members with their expertise and credentials.

You can upload up to 10 documents in total, so combine related material into well-labelled PDFs. Upload everything in one session. Progress is not saved if the session expires, and the CRA warns that delays may lead to the application being denied as incomplete.

Who signs Part 3, and how is T1322 submitted?

An authorized signing officer of the corporation, or an authorized partner, signs Part 3. They enter their name and position title at line 080, then sign and date at line 082. By signing, they certify that the form and attachments are true, correct and complete. A consultant can't sign for you.

To submit: sign in to My Business Account, open Correspondence, select Submit documents, answer Yes to having a case number, enter it, then upload the form and attachments. After that, the CRA's research and technology advisor reviews the file. Every business except existing SR&ED claimants in good standing must attend a meeting of about 2 to 5 hours, and the CRA aims to decide within 8 weeks of receiving a complete application. Approval covers the technical eligibility of the work only. You still file Form T661 with your return; see how to file an SR&ED claim.

Pre-submission checklist

1. Eligibility confirmed

   Gross business income under $25 million, good standing, new project, nothing under objection or litigation.

2. Case number matches

   The line 016 number is the one you'll enter in My Business Account.

3. Section A is complete for every project

   Start date reflects when work on the uncertainty begins; the expenditure estimate ties to your plan; the technical contact can attend the meeting.

4. Section B is within limits

   Count words: 042 at most 500, 043 at most 700, 044 at most 900. Each line answers the question as asked.

5. Section B is consistent

   The uncertainty in 042 is the same one the due diligence in 043 and the work in 044 address.

6. Section C is accurate

   Either 050 or 054 is ticked; if 054, the firm and its BN are filled in.

7. Section D pack is ready

   Plan, internal controls, references and team list, all created by the business, at most 10 files.

8. Part 3 is signed and dated

   By an authorized signing officer or partner who has read everything.

9. One session booked

   The uploader has My Business Account access and time to finish without interruption.

What are the most common T1322 mistakes?

• Describing a business goal instead of a technical uncertainty. Market, cost or schedule risk is not SR&ED uncertainty.
• Vague due diligence. "We looked online" doesn't show that existing knowledge falls short. Name sources and results.
• A work plan with no hypotheses. A feature list or sprint backlog is not a systematic investigation.
• Exceeding word limits or padding with marketing language.
• Supporting documents written for the application rather than created by the business for the project.
• No plan for tracking time and records. Section D asks for these controls, and expenditures can still be reviewed later.
• Uploading in pieces. Missing files or delays between upload sessions may lead the CRA to deny the application as incomplete.
• Applying for work already done or claimed. Pre-claim approval is for planned or only recently started work.

1. CRA: T1322 Application for SR&ED pre-claim approval (form page)
2. CRA: Form T1322 (26e), PDF
3. CRA: Complete your application for pre-claim approval
4. CRA: Request a case number
5. CRA: Submit your application
6. CRA: After you apply for pre-claim approval
7. CRA: Apply for pre-claim approval (eligibility)
8. CRA: SR&ED pre-claim approval info sheet (PDF)