AusIndustry have recently circulated a draft of new guidance on the eligilbity of software development activity under the R&D tax incentive. The guidance does not appear to materially differ from the principles of eligibility in other guidance documents published in recent years. Whilst the eligibility of software R&D activity was certainly scrutinised, particularly during the period from 2017 to 2019, a misconception occurred by some perceiving that software activities are not eligible under the R&D tax incentive. This is certainly not […]
The changes to the R&D tax incentive announced in the October 2020 budget have been passed as law, but do not become effective until 1 July 2021 (FY22). Companies registering activity for the financial year about to end (FY21) will do so under the same legislation in place as in prior years. However, some significant changes to the reporting of the activities have occurred for FY21, based on AusIndustry’s new reporting portal. The portal had been indicated some months ago […]
Companies seeking to register R&D Activities conducted during the Year Ended 30 June 2020 (ie FY20 – last financial year) who are yet to do so should note that the Registration Deadline is 30 April 2021. Last year, AusIndustry applied a blanket extension to all companies’ FY19 R&D Applications due to COVID. We are of the understanding that this blanket extension will NOT be available for FY20 applications, and the 30 April 2021 statutory deadline (10 months after the end of the financial […]
AusIndustry and the ATO have published a joint podcast on business.gov.au this week, featuring Brett Challans (ATO) and Kelly Wiggins (DISER). The podcast discusses key R&D Tax Incentive issues relevant to each department, including: Eligible entities; The self-assessment process; Categories of ineligible expenditure; Records relevant to substantiating the R&D process through systematic progression of work i.e. from hypothesis to conclusions. E.g. emails, project plans, annual reports, lab notebooks and meeting minutes; Records relevant to substantiating expenditure including invoices, contractors and […]