Companies seeking to register R&D activities conducted during the Year Ended 31 December 2020 (companies that have a December YE for tax) who are yet to do so should note that the registration deadline is the end of October 2021. 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 […]
The ATO have recently released their annual report for the FY21 period, which is designed to inform parliament, stakeholders and the community about how the ATO have administered the tax and superannuation systems. Within the report are final statistics on the R&D Tax Incentive, which is jointly administered by the ATO and AusIndustry. Key statistics on the incentive from the period are as follows: Value of claims processed for the 38.5% R&D Offset was Steady from the prior year: $2.2b […]
Background On 12 October 2021 the ATO issued a Decision Impact Statement relating to the decision handed down by the Full Federal Court in Auctus Resources Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation [2020] FCA 1096. The case involved a ‘self-assessed’ claim for an R&D tax offset refund of $2,269,336 made by Auctus Resources Pty Ltd (Auctus Resources) for the 2012-13 financial year. The refund payment was made by the Commissioner of Taxation (the Commissioner) to Auctus Resources using an automated […]
A significant (but temporary) change to operation of the R&D Tax Incentive for expenditure on tangible depreciating assets used in R&D activity came into effect during FY21. Historically, and prior to FY21: The capital cost of a tangible depreciating asset is not eligible as R&D expenditure; A company is able to claim the decline in value on an R&D asset (as calculated under the depreciating asset provisions in Division 40) for the period that an asset is used in […]