At the announcement of the May 2014 budget, the Federal Government proposed to decrease the refundable and non-refundable R&D tax offsets by 1.5% for FY15. The reduction in the R&D tax offset rates was proposed to commence one year prior to the 1.5% reduction in corporate rate for FY16. Had the R&D Tax Offset rates reduced one year prior to the corporate tax rate as proposed, the permanent effective benefit of the R&D Tax Incentive would have dropped in FY15, then been […]
When it comes to science and Research and Development, other countries are hitting the accelerator while Australia is shifting into reverse. During the Prime Minister’s prizes for Science, held at Parliament House last October, Tony Abbott delivered his speech in front of Australia’s best and brightest minds and left the stage with a barely audible applause. Abbott, who had been in office for just over a year, was surprised he received some form of applause after his Government implemented drastic […]
As the 2014 G20 Leaders Summit drew to a close in November, the final statement from the nations representatives called for enhancements to Australia’s economic growth achieved through the “promotion of competition and innovation and the coordination of strategies to reduce unemployment, particularly amongst youth, through entrepreneurship”. While it may sound prospective, this theme of driving economic and job growth through entrepreneurship isn’t new. A 1979 report by Professor David Birch of MIT, titled ‘The Job Generation Process’, recommended government […]
The Australian Financial Review recently featured Swanson Reed and the proposed Patent Grant Program in Tuesday’s release. The article Innovation crisis a matter of urgency, tax advisers say addresses the innovation crisis looming if the Australian Government does not act soon on policy to encourage investment in innovation. Swanson Reed collaborated with Wrays, intellectual property and patent advisers, to propose a patent grant system as an interim measure until the deadlock on introducing the UK-style-patent-box incentives breaks. Treasurer Joe Hockey echoed concerns by […]