In the May federal budget, the Australian Government announced that it will introduce a patent box for eligible income associated with new patents in the medical and biotechnology sectors. The patent box will apply to companies for income years commencing on or after 1 July 2022, and for new Australian patents since budget night. The aim of such a policy is to encourage companies to base their medical and biotechnology R&D activity in Australia and to retain associated patent […]
Australia’s R&D tax incentive program is dually administered by two government agencies: AusIndustry (on behalf of Industry Innovation and Science Australia): registers R&D activities disclosed in applications lodged with the agency. AusIndustry has authority to make findings on eligibility of activities. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO): administers R&D tax offset entitlements disclosed in company income tax returns lodged with the agency. The ATO reviews compliance matters such as substantiation of expenditure and structural tax issues such as on whose behalf […]
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 […]
In December 2019, the government re-introduced a bill to reform the R&D Tax Incentive. This bill was a slightly modified version of a previous reform bill (Treasury Laws Amendment (Making Sure Multinationals Pay Their Fair Share of Tax in Australia and Other Measures) Bill 2018), which did not pass through the Senate at that time. A Senate Economics Legislation Committee recommended in February 2019 that the initial bill should be deferred from consideration until further analysis of the bill’s impact […]