Entrepreneurs undertaking research understand that, if they want to take advantage of the opportunity that exists with the R&D Tax Incentive, some legal and accounting rigour will be required to secure the best outcome. This is no different to any other aspect of a company’s compliance obligations. Eundo specialises in managing these technical R&D issues for clients.
One critical aspect of any claim requires a distinction between what are defined in the law as core activities as against supporting activities of any R&D effort. Although we have blogged about this before, some further clarification can now be found in guidelines posted on government websites, and it is so important.
Features of a core activity should include experimentation to achieve an outcome not previously in existence, be conducted in a methodical and logical way and with the purpose to generate new knowledge. Outcomes could include services, products or processes in any sector of our economy; the possibilities are literally endless. But a word of caution; the absence of a core activity will jeopardise any R&D claim.
Similarly, supporting activities are potentially very broad in nature. The guideline somewhat cryptically says any supporting activity will be directly related to a core activity, and also speaks of dominant purpose in certain circumstances.
Eundo’s experience leads to professional advice for researchers and their R&D Tax Incentive claim.
