You can now receive tax credits for hiring external consultants to assist in mineral exploration activities.
The government of B.C is offering Mining Exploration Tax Credit (“METC”) for conducting grassroots mineral exploration in B.C. This tax credit is available for all base and precious metals, coal, qualifying industrial minerals, gemstones, bituminous sands, and oil shale deposits.
You need to meet the following requirements to be eligible:
- Conduct exploration activity in B.C
- Incur the expenses
- Reside in BC on the last day of the tax year (corporations must have maintained a permanent establishment at anytime during the tax year)
METC is 20% of the net eligible mining exploration expenses and it is increased to 30% for conducting exploration in the areas affected by the Mountain Pine Beetle. Net eligible mining exploration expenses can be calculated by subtracting the total amount of assistance received from the total qualified mining exploration expenses.
Assistance includes reimbursements you have received or are entitled to receive, as well as grants, subsidies, rebates, and forgivable loans. Exploration expenses may include reasonable expenses incurred in the course of prospecting such as carrying out geological, geophysical and geochemical surveys; trenching, digging test pits or preliminary sampling; and drilling by any method.
As per METC guidelines, hiring of external consultants for technical report writing i.e resource estimate qualifies as a valid expense that can be used to claim the tax credit.
To view the complete details regarding eligible expenses and methodology to calculate and claim the METC, visit: http://www.sbr.gov.bc.ca/documents_library/bulletins/cit_006.pdf.