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 […]
For multiple years leading into the prior federal budget in 2020, the Government attempted to pass controversial measures aimed at reducing the cost of the R&D Tax Incentive, which had stalled in the senate and were not legislated. When the October 2020 Federal Budget (delayed due to COVID) was handed down, business was pleasantly surprised. The Government had pivoted away from proposed cuts, and made the R&D Tax Incentive a centrepiece tool of job creation and investment, by proposing changes […]
In the belated federal Budget handed down in October 2020 (delayed due to COVID), reforms to the R&D Tax Incentive were a centrepiece. Leading up to the 2020 budget, the government was proposing substantial changes to the R&D Tax Incentive which were aimed at reducing the cost of the programme, but that had not yet been legislated as law. When the 2020 budget was announced, the government largely backed away from the unworkable changes in its R&D Tax Incentive reform […]