Approach and fees
What we do, what we decline, what it costs.
Rather than promise to "maximize" your funding, we prefer to tell you how the work is done and where the risks are.
The approach, in five steps
- Listen and read. A meeting with the people who did the work, then a reading of their records. We ask questions rather than write hypotheses on your behalf.
- Screen. Each project or program is rated: solid, defensible under conditions, or set aside. You receive this screening before any writing begins.
- Write. A precise text, in your team's vocabulary, where every fact traces back to a record. A generic text is a review risk.
- Verify. Before any final version, the text is checked sentence by sentence against the records, and the figures are recalculated. Anything undocumented is corrected, removed, or put to you as a question.
- Follow through. Filing is not the end of the mandate. We answer requests from the funding body or the CRA, and note what to document for next year.
Why we do not post a success rate
A "98% success rate" does not say what it measures. A claim accepted without review does not prove the text was read. A percentage computed on selected files tells you nothing about yours.
The evidence that matters is of a different kind: claims reviewed by the CRA and then accepted, decisions defended at objection, and an expert report prepared for an appellant before the Tax Court of Canada. That is what we can discuss with you in a first conversation, in general terms and without naming any client.
What we do not do
Guarantee an outcome
The decision rests with the tax authority or the funding body. We answer for the rigour of the file, not for the decision.
Inflate a claim
A project added to increase the amount puts the solid ones at risk. We claim what can be defended.
Say a program "fits" without reading it
Eligibility is not enough. We check the evaluation criteria and tell you whether your project is a strong or a weak candidate.
Talk about one client to another
Each file is sealed. No figure, technology or name passes from one mandate to another, or onto this site.
Fees
Here are our principles.
- Everything is in writing before we start. The mandate states how we are paid, what it covers and when the invoice is issued.
- The model depends on the mandate. An hourly rate with a cap agreed in advance, a flat fee per file, or fees tied to the outcome. We explain which suits your situation, and why.
- Hourly work is accounted for. It is billed from detailed timesheets.
- What comes next is planned from the outset. The mandate sets out the follow-up after filing, and on what terms.
Ask us for a written proposal: it fits on two pages.