ATO’s R&D report

Does your business claim the R&D tax incentive?

To increase transparency the ATO has committed to publishing data on firms participating in the program, which provides tax offsets to mitigate the cost of cutting-edge research.

This week the tax office published its inaugural R&D report, showing 11, 545 companies filed a total of $11.2 billion in R&D tax incentive claims across the FY22 income year.

Atlassian topped the charts – claiming $200, 460, 127 in expenditure – but some $2.2 billion of the total claims were made by small businesses, showing the importance of the scheme for burgeoning enterprises and startups: their average claim was $395, 191.

As Saurav Malhotra wrote recently, the R&D tax refund – designed to reward innovation and fuel economic growth – can be a game-changer for small businesses.

Hope your bottom line is looking good this weekend.

Simon Crerar

Editor-in-chief, SmartCompany