R&D Tax Incentive - What to expect from the new form
Ben Cusack - R?D Tax Incentive Specialist
I help innovative companies fund their growth by leveraging the R&D Tax Incentive. Email me at ??????@??????????????????????.??????.???? and I can give you some tips on how to get it. ?
Overview
The government has modified what they expect from R&D Tax Incentive applications by reworking the application form.
Background
Things that have changed include:
- New Knowledge
- Unknown Outcomes
- Core Activities
The new form is more closely aligned with the legislation underpinning the R&D Tax Incentive, and the questions are more direct.
New Knowledge
Previously, AusIndustry wanted you to separate your New Knowledge from your experiments, and link them from afar. Now they want them linked together in an experiment.
Unknown Outcomes
The Unknown Outcomes of the experiment will also need to be directly linked in an experiment.
This means you will need to complete your experimental details and then provide your analysis as to why you couldn’t predict these outcomes in advance.
Old Form - Core Activity (3,000 characters)
- Describe the core activity (3,000 characters)
New Form - Core Activity (18,000 characters)
- What was the hypothesis? (4,000 characters)
- What was the experiment and how did it test the hypothesis? (4,000 characters)
- How did you evaluate or plan to evaluate results from your experiment? (4,000 characters)
- Describe your conclusions (4,000 characters)
- What new knowledge was this core activity intended to produce? (1,000 characters)
- Please explain what sources were investigated, what information was found, and why a competent professional could not have known or determined the outcome in advance (1,000 characters)
Commentary
The new questions are the same as the process we go through anyway, we just get more room to expand.
But, it is going to be hard for people that are non-scientifically minded to apply their R&D in this way.
With its heavy emphasis on the literature and legislation, it will certainly make it less accessible for self-assessment.
Other consequences
The new form will help bring together the otherwise disparate parts of the application but it makes it easier for the government to automate the review of applications for non-compliance and audit.
Other headaches
I will go through this in more detail shortly, but it needs to be lodged with a MyGovID and linked to your company’s ABN using Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM).
Timing
Applications won’t be accepted through the portal until 5 July 2021.
Need Help?
Here is a book I wrote which provides templates of how to respond to each question.
