Boast has released its 2026 R&D Tax Credit Benchmark Report, which found that companies secured more than USD $900 million in R&D tax credits across the United States and Canada in 2024.
The analysis draws on 6,907 claims from 2,298 companies and covers more than USD $3.6 billion in tracked R&D spending. It uses anonymised transaction data from federal, state and provincial programmes in both countries.
Average claim values reached USD $768,233 in 2024, up 245% from 2018. Claim volumes have stabilised in recent years, even as the amount recovered per claim has continued to rise.
That pattern suggests more companies are moving beyond first-time filings to submit repeat claims over several years. Businesses that previously recovered between USD $50,000 and USD $100,000 a year are now often claiming between USD $200,000 and USD $500,000 or more as their R&D work expands and their records improve.
Sector mix
Software and internet companies accounted for 80.6% of all claims in the dataset and recorded the lowest audit rate, at 5.28%.
Manufacturing and gaming faced the highest audit scrutiny. Across the full dataset, the audit rate was 6.59%, meaning 93% of claims passed without review.
Small and medium-sized businesses made up 90% of all claims, indicating that smaller companies remain the main users of R&D tax credits even as claim sizes increase.
Cross-border claims
The United States represented 54.3% of total claims volume, while Canada accounted for 45.7%. Participation was broad on both sides of the border, with California, Texas and Massachusetts among the leading US states for R&D tax credit use, and Quebec and Ontario leading in Canada.
Boast also found that 96% of more sophisticated claimants pursue multi-jurisdiction strategies, generating recoveries that are 30% to 50% higher.
The data also examined processing speed, showing that companies with more optimised claim preparation can reduce timelines by as much as three months.
The findings come as many businesses continue to seek non-equity funding for product development and technical work. Tax credits have become a recurring source of support for companies managing higher capital costs while maintaining research spending.
Imad Jebara, chief executive officer at Boast, said the increase in claim values reflects a shift in how companies approach innovation finance.
"The kind of increase in average claim values and the millions of dollars secured in a single year sends a clear message that companies are becoming far more strategic about how they fund innovation," Jebara said.
He added that significant untapped potential remains in the United States and Canada, where some businesses have yet to fully use available incentives.
"But this is only the beginning. We're still seeing significant untapped potential in fast-growing innovation markets like the US and Canada, where many companies have yet to fully capitalise on government incentives. Getting this right requires more than automation. AI can accelerate data collection and analysis, but it cannot replace human judgment when it comes to identifying technical uncertainty, documenting experimentation, and capturing the small details that materially impact recovery. The strongest outcomes come from combining advanced technology with experienced specialists who understand how to turn R&D activity into defensible, maximised claims," Jebara said.
The report covers programmes including the US federal research credit and Canadian federal and provincial measures such as SR&ED and CDAE-IA. It tracks claim size, audit rates, industry patterns, company size and processing times.
The data was drawn from activity on Boast's own platform. The company helps businesses in Canada and the United States prepare and submit R&D tax credit claims.