On March 20, 2024, Saskatchewan Minister of Finance, Donna Harpauer, released the 2024-2025 provincial budget. The new budget contained a number of spending initiatives but few tax changes.
We’ve detailed some of the new tax incentives and their impact on business owners in the province.
Minimal tax changes, emphasis on spending
There were no new taxes or increased tax rates announced in the budget. The following details are related to corporate taxes, consumption taxes and tax incentives within the province:
Corporate tax
- Saskatchewan corporate tax rate for Small Business Deduction eligible income will remain at 1% until June 30, 2025, extended from June 30, 2024
Consumption taxes
- Additional resources have been added to identify taxpayers not complying with filing required returns and remitting required taxes
- Additional and increased penalties for non-compliance, late-filed returns and overdue payments
- Click here for full consumption taxes details
Tax incentives
- New Saskatchewan Critical Mineral Innovation Incentive (SCMII) – provides tax credits for 25% of eligible program costs deploying novel technologies in the critical mineral sector. Applicable to pilot projects and commercial scaling projects in the aluminum, cobalt, copper, gallium, helium, lithium, magnesium, nickel, rare earth elements and zinc industries. Shares $100M total funding cap with Petroleum Innovation Incentive. Full details here
- New Critical Mineral Processing Investment Incentive (CMPII) – provides tax credits for 15% of eligible program costs for eligible projects. Projects must create value in new or existing aluminum, cobalt, copper, gallium, helium, lithium, magnesium, nickel, rare earth elements and zinc projects. Shares $500M total funding limit with Oil and Gas Processing Investment Incentive. Full details here
- Expanded Saskatchewan Petroleum Innovation Incentive (SPII) – provides tax credits for 25% of eligible program costs and has been extended 5 years to March 31, 2029. Applicable to pilot projects and commercial scaling projects that demonstrate innovation or significant advancement in the Saskatchewan Oil & Gas industry. Total funding is also increased to $100M from $30M. Full details here
- Expanded Oil and Gas Processing Investment Incentive (OGPII) – provides tax credits for 15% of eligible project costs and has been extended 5 years to March 31, 2029. Projects must create value in new or existing oil, gas, helium, lithium or chemical fertilizer projects. Total funding is also increased to $500M from $370M. Full details here
- Expanded Saskatchewan Technology Start-up Incentive (STSI) – 45% tax credit program for eligible investors has been extended 1 year to March 31, 2027. Eligible start-ups expanded to include the cleantech sector, in addition to existing eligible agtech and digital sectors, and the annual total credits available is doubled to $7M. Full details here
- Extended Saskatchewan Commercial Innovation Incentive (SCII) – reduces corporate tax rate for 10-15 years on qualifying intellectual property commercialized in Sask. The program application peiod has been extended for 1 year to June 30, 2025. Full details here
- New Multi-Lateral Well Program – provides tax incentives to encourage new drilling of multi-later oil wells to increase oil recovery rates. The program applies to new wells drilled from April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2028. Full details here
Conclusion
View the Saskatchewan Finance press release and full budget details can be found here.
Please contact your Virtus Advisor to discuss any specific questions about the Budget or fill out the form below.
