Tax Incentives for your Research and Development

Administered jointly by AusIndustry and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), the overarching goal of the incentive program is to encourage companies to engage in R&D, in turn boosting competitiveness and improving productivity across the Australian economy.

Canberra business, eWAY is just one example of a local business taking advantage of the program. eWAY CEO and founder, Matt Bullock said “Our global operations centre runs out of Canberra, which also houses the R&D team. Without R&D Tax assistance we would not have been able to develop our world-class payment solutions.” Read more about eWAY’s and other R&D tax incentive business stories .

Subject to eligibility criteria and exclusions, the R&D Tax Incentive can be used to offset expenditure incurred on R&D activities, the decline in value of depreciating assets used in R&D activities and more. Find out more about the eligible deductions .

So is your business entitled to the R&D Tax Incentive? Ask yourself:

• Are you an eligible company? Find out if you are an eligible company .
• Are the activities being undertaken experimental activities? Experiments can take place in a range of settings, from a separate laboratory to an otherwise normal production line.
• Can the outcome of the experiments be known or determined in advance on the basis of publicly available knowledge, information or experience?
• Where are the activities being undertaken – in Australia or overseas?
• Who is conducting the activities? You are only entitled to a tax offset for R&D activities conducted for your company (there are some exceptions to this).
• Do you have notional deductions of $20,000 or more? If not, have you contracted the activities to a registered RSP, or made a monetary contribution under the CRC program? 
• Do you have appropriate records and evidence of conducting eligible R&D activities to substantiate your claim?

If you are planning to claim under the R&D Tax Incentive you must register your eligible R&D activities with AusIndustry. You are required to complete this registration process each year you plan to claim.

You need to register your activities within 10 months of the end of the income year in which the activities were conducted.  For example, if your business operates on a standard financial year (1 July to 30 June) you must register by 30 April 2013. If your business operated on a substituted accounting period (1 January to 31 December) you must register by 21 October 2013.

To register for the R&D Tax Incentive visit the AusIndustry website . To find out more about the program visit the AusIndustry and Australian Taxation Office  websites.