R&D Tax Incentive registrations for FY22 closed on April 30 so, with the end of the financial year approaching, now is the perfect time for early-stage companies to get their R&D Tax Incentive claims prepared.
What are the advantages of early R&D tax claim preparation?
In the current, constrained, economy business owners are looking for ways to save or minimize costs and optimise cashflow. Early preparation of R&D tax claims can be of particular benefit to startups, early-stage businesses or those operating at a loss.
The sooner you lodge your R&D Tax Incentive claim, the sooner you can lodge your tax return and receive any tax refund due to you. This may provide your business with a much-needed cash injection, extend your runway, reduce your reliance on drawing down on your cash reserves, and help your business maintain vital cashflow in a time where many are feeling the bite of inflation.
From an administrative point of view, retrospective claims are more difficult and time-consuming to prepare. If you prepare your claim in real-time information about your activities is fresh in your mind and the details you need to include on your claim are more likely to be at your fingertips, saving you time and minimising the effort and resources required to pull together your claim.
R&D Tax Incentive claims made easy
At Matthews Steer we offer a full suite of R&D Tax Incentive services, supporting you to draft your registration, calculate your eligible R&D expenditure, structure your claim and lodge your claim as early as possible.
R&D Tax Incentive 2023 registration:
While registrations have now closed for the 2022 R&D tax incentive, it’s never too early to get started on preparing your registration for the 2023 R&D Tax Incentive for early lodgement at the end of the financial year.
The government grants team at Matthews Steer can help you work out if your business is eligible for the R&D tax offset, determine the offset rate for eligible entities, calculate how much you can claim and identify the records you will need to keep to support your claim. Our team has knowledge and experience of eligible activities across industries and can help you avoid making an incorrect R&D tax incentive claim.
R&D tax incentive advanced finding:
To find out if your business’ R&D activities are eligible before registering for the R&D tax incentive, you can lodge an advanced finding. This provides assurance that your registered R&D activities will be eligible for claiming under the R&D Tax Incentive. An advanced finding is of particular use to businesses trying to attract investors because it provides assurance on the eligibility of the next two years’ R&D claims. This provides investors with the confidence that the business will garner an R&D refund, enabling the business to maximise the value of their investment.
Applications for advanced findings must be submitted prior to the end of the income year in which the R&D activity is conducted. The ATO doesn’t accept late applications or extensions to the grant application period so time is of the essence. Matthews Steer’s Government Grants team is experienced at compiling the detailed information and supporting documentation, required to support R&D advanced findings in an efficient and timely way.
R&D finance:
If your business is cash poor, or you’re anticipating a cash shortfall until your tax refund comes through, R&D finance may enable you to bridge the gap between lodgement of an R&D tax incentive claim and any resulting tax refund, by offering future R&D claim returns as security for cash flow finance. The Matthews Steer government grants team can review your expenditure on R&D activities, provide assurance that there is eligible R&D activity, calculate the amount of eligible expenditure, and provide documentation to support your application to R&D finance companies.
Matthews Steer has relationships with all the major R&D finance companies and can support you with introductions to these specialised lenders. The R&D finance review is an excellent first step in your wider R&D tax incentive admin as it constitutes part of the R&D claim preparation process.
Take action on your R&D Tax Incentive claim now
Whether or not you’re finding cash flow is tight in the current economy, now’s the time to get ahead of the game and prepare your R&D Tax Incentive claim so you can receive your tax refund early. We are already helping clients to prepare their R&D Tax Incentive claims so that they can secure their R&D refunds as soon as possible. Contact Richard Wraith and his grants team to find out how they can support you and your business to leverage the benefits of early R&D Tax Incentive registration and claim submission.
What is the R&D Tax Incentive (R&DTI)?
The R&D Tax Incentive is a broad-based, market-driven program accessible to all industry sectors. It provides a targeted tax offset to encourage more companies to engage in research and development (R&D).
Available tax offsets based on annual turnover:
- Turnover < $20m – 43.5% refundable tax offset.
- Turnover > $20m – 38.5% non-refundable tax offset.
Learn more about the R&D Tax Incentive program
If you would like to learn more about how State and Federal Government grants and funding measures can support your business please contact Richard Wraith and our government grants team on (03) 9325 6300.