The AFR has reported in late September 2023, that officials from the Australian Taxation Office visited a high profile ASX listed software development company last month as part of inquiries about whether the group inappropriately claimed R&D Tax Offsets. The article seems to suggest that the issue may relate to overclaiming of expenditure on R&D Activities conducted overseas (as opposed to whether the expenditure or activity meet the general R&D Tax Incentive criteria). Under the R&D Tax Incentive, companies […]
After previously issuing a draft ruling in June 2023, the ATO in September 2023 has now finalised and published Tax Determination TD 2023/5 on aggregated turnover and connected entities – Commissioner’s discretion that an entity does not ‘control’ another entity. Under the R&D Tax Incentive a company’s rate of R&D tax offset and whether it is refundable or not depends primarily on the R&D entity’s aggregated turnover: If an entity’s aggregated turnover is less than $20 million and it is not controlled […]
Companies seeking to register R&D Activities conducted during the Year Ended 31 December 2022 (companies that have a December Year End for tax) who are yet to do so should note that the Registration Deadline is the end of October 2023. The blanket and automatic extensions granted during COVID no longer apply, and the statutory deadlines revert to normal (10 months after the end of the financial year). There are mechanisms available under the IR&D Act and IRD Decision making provisions that […]
A recent AAT Decision dated 26 April 2023 (LAKES OIL NL and INNOVATION AND SCIENCE AUSTRALIA (Taxation) ) found a company’s registered activities were not eligible under the R&D Tax Incentive. The project under scrutiny in the case was entitled “Project 1 – LAK2006 ‘Hydraulic Fracturing Technology for Gippsland Tight Gas’”. The dispute was focused on a registration in the FY14 and FY15 period. During the case INNOVATION AND SCIENCE AUSTRALIA contended that: the activities undertaken were not experimental activities; almost all […]