Since the Federal poll in early September 2013, the newly elected Coalition Government has been reviewing the previous Labour government’s unlegislated tax announcements and working through its own agenda in this area.
In a media release issued early November 2013 the Government provided some clarification of two matters affecting the R&D Tax Incentive space, one which will only impact a very few companies and the other which could likely be of interest to many R&D claimants.
Of interest to only the very largest companies in Australia, the R&D Tax Incentive will be denied to corporate groups with aggregate income of $20 billion or more. The stated policy intention is for R&D tax benefits to more directly target SME’s, with the expectation that only the largest miners, banks and retailers will be excluded.
The other R&D matter is the prospect of small (less than $20 million aggregate income) companies being able to receive quarterly R&D refunds. The Government’s intention is to conduct further consultation shortly to establish whether there are compelling reasons to proceed or unintended consequences of not proceeding.
The prospect of quarterly R&D credits, if well executed, could be vital to small research companies and Eundo will monitor developments on behalf of clients.
