R&D SmartTax is proud to release its new White Label R&D Eligibility Wizard tool for the 2012 R&D Tax Incentive Program.

The White Label R&D Eligibility Wizard takes the powerful self assessment tool for the R&D Tax Incentive out to the Australian public by letting organisations place the web-based tool on their own internet or intranet websites.  For a new R&D tax program like the R&D Tax Incentive this will help users deal with the uncertainty of the new rules while giving the owner of the website a means of capturing valuable visitor data.

The White Label feature of the tool allows website owners to brand the tool as their own using their own logo, web colour, font and contact details. Website owners are also given a secure weblink allowing them to view user results in real-time. For accounting firms the user data can be converted into new revenue through an R&D tax claim or potentially other tax or accounting work. Similarly R&D firms can also use the tool as a means to capture new R&D projects in an easy, accessible format which can be useful for regionally diverse users operating at low bandwidth.

Setting up the White Label R&D Eligibility Wizard is very simple. Website owners provide the branding details in a form found on our website and within 48 hours the html code is emailed for the web developer to insert in the site. To date web developers have stated around 15-30 minutes is all that is required to insert the wizard into the website.

A 12 month licence of the 2012 White Label R&D Eligibility Wizard starts at only $695 plus GST. With the R&D Tax Incentive for SMEs providing a return of 45% on expenditure we are confident this represents terrific value for users.

To find out more please click here or email us at info@smarttax.com.au

After passing the legislation for the new R&D Tax Incentive in September, the Federal Government has now started to release some of the more practical informaton to aid companies and tax practitioners in their interpretation of the new rules.

First to be released was the Draft Copy of the Advance or Overseas Finding form. While not for actual use, this does give some guidance as to the type of information the Government will request for advance registration.

Next came the Government’s feedback mechanism for the new R&D Tax Incentive, the R&D Tax Incentive – Discussion Paper with good news that the time for responses is now extended until Tuesday 31 January 2012.

Most recently the Industry Research and Development Regulations 2011 became operative on the 26th of November and provides presriptions on the level of information required in the Application to Register Activities. It is worth noting the level of information required is largely greater than the previous R&D Application form for the R&D Tax Concession and R&D Tax Offset.

In particular, Section 4.03 of the Regulations notes that the following information must be provided in the new Application to Register Activities:

• whether an activity is Core or Supporting
• the relationship of Supporting activities to Core activities
• whether the Supporting activities meet the dominant purpose test if required
• the new knowledge each Core activity is expected to generate
• an expenditure breakdown between Core and Supporting activities

As companies with 30 June year ends are almost 6 months through the 2012 financial year, there may be concern as to whether current record keeping is sufficient to meet the new requirements. However despite this new information being released, there is still much more to come including industry guidelines and further fact sheets and pronouncements by the various committees surrounding the program. As such the recommendation here is still the same as previous. Continue with your record keeping, ensuring labour records are regularly maintained in sufficient detail. Don’t make any hasty decisions yet about the eligibility and scope of projects and stay patient, as we are trying to, with this transition phase.

If there are any specific queries, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@smarttax.com.au.

If ever there was an exercise in patience, working with Australia’s New R&D Tax Incentive would have to be it. After months of patiently waiting for legislation to be passed, then Royal Assent to be received, then information briefings to be held, you would think we were now well equipped to take the new R&D rules and start working with them.  Not quite.

For all the detail that has been released through legislation, Explanatory Memoranda, Fact Sheets, guidelines and case studies, there are still many areas that are uncertain and will require much more guidance before companies can confidently apply the rules to their own situation.

Most of these uncertain areas affect the scope of the eligibility to claim. This means that while you may have a pretty good idea that your company and project will be eligible for the New R&D Tax Incentive, just quite how much you can claim is still debatable.  For example, the boundaries of which activities will be eligible as Core R&D activities including the design of experiments are quite uncertain. Further, the “hot tub” of experts that meet regularly to discuss these areas are also still working through areas such as the design of the Advance or Overseas Findings form, an item that is expected to be a key tool companies will use to gain certainty prior to registration.

The reality is that many of these details and extra guidance will not be available into well into the new year after January or February 2012.

This means that while we are almost 4 months into the 2012 financial year and we are itching to plan and make adjustments to our businesses for this new “incentive” program, we are going to have to treat 2012 as a transition year.  Most companies are being encouraged to continue business as usual, maintaining good records as they go and to otherwise sit tight until more information is forthcoming.

To this end our top three tips to make sure your company is on track for your claim are as follows:

1) record all labour hours contemporaneously. Labour-related R&D claims will be the winner with the new R&D Tax Incentive, so make sure you are tracking your hours as you go as this will maximise your claim.

2) record all experiments in detail. Write down what you learned by undertaking the experiment, what equipment was used and for how long.

3) research your technology status. Undertake patent, literature or google searches to demonstrate the newness of your ideas. Make sure to print and record all your findings.

R&D SmartTax’s Template Package is a great starting point to make sure you are capturing your information for your claim. Our Labour Record will help you record your hours contemporaneously and the R&D Trial Record will ensure all the details are captured for your experiments. To download our Template Package, please click here.

To keep up to date with the latest information about the R&D Tax Incentive, please email us at info@smarttax.com.au and we will add you to our mailing list.

I bet you didn’t think you could produce an investor grade business plan in just one day? Neither did we until we happily discovered Business Planning HQ, an Australian owned business that is storming the world with its unique, smart yet simple process towards producing business plan documents and securing investor funding for smart companies.

In the month of September alone its clients secured over $1.3 million USD and the success stories just keep growing.

Business Planning HQ was developed to provide an alternative to the two traditional ways of creating a business plan; using a consultant, or buying software/ a template. 

• Consulting approaches do not always meet financial constraints of cash strapped ventures, and the results can be highly unpredictable.  Additionally this approach still takes a surprising amount of time from the business founder.
• Software and templates have generally not been developed by those that have actually raised capital.  They are often owned and developed by software companies as just another market to sell their software.  Templates are highly variable in quality and do not ask the tough questions that investors will.

The HyperQuestion Approach is different.  The starting point was interviewing investors about what they need to know about a business to make an investment.  These investor questions were then turned into a series of questions that a business founder could easily answer.

R&D SmartTax was so impressed by Business Planning HQ that it has formed an exciting new alliance partnership. R&D SmartTax’s approach has always been to make access to funding easier and more affordable and Business Planning HQ definitely achieves this goal. Alongside the Government’s New R&D Tax Incentive, investor funding is a vital way for small, smart companies to continue to invest in innovation and technology advancement, thus helping keep Australian businesses competitive on the world stage.

To find out more about Business Planning HQ and get your Business Plans done today Click Here.

Australia’s New R&D Tax Incentive is here and as of 1 July 2011 any projects undertaken now fall under the new R&D Tax Incentive rules.

With a 45% refundable (cash) tax offset on offer for SMEs the new R&D Tax Incentive has the potential to provide enormous cash advantages to any company who is generating new knowledge, products and services in any industry throughout Australia.

So to find out if this new program can help your business, we invite you to attend R&D SmartTax’s FREE Webinar on the New R&D Tax Incentive on Tuesday 27th September 2011 at 11am EST.

To register for this FREE Webinar please click here.

During the Webinar you will learn:

• what the new eligibility rules are for entities and projects
• what expenditure qualifies
• how the 45% refundable and 40% non-refundable tax offsets work to reduce your tax liabilities and provide extra cash to your business at tax time

Places are limited so please act now to register for this free event. For any questions about the New R&D Tax Incentive, please feel free to contact us at info@smarttax.com.au.

We look forward to seeing you there!

We can reveal that Australia’s New R&D Tax Credit program was given the official green light on Tuesday 23rd of August 2011 after passing through the Senate virtually unchanged.

The only amendments to the legislation proposed by the Labour Government in 2010 were the change of the start date of the legislation to 1 July 2011 and also the introduction of a quarterly payment system for SMEs receiving the refundable tax credit.

This means that small to medium companies with a turnover less than $20m that have been undertaking R&D activities since 1 July 2011 can now earn an increased benefit of 45% as a refundable tax credit, up from the previous 37.5% rate. Large companies also receive higher incentives with an increased benefit of 40% as a tax credit equating to around 10% compared with the previous 7.5% benefit.

For all companies intending to make claims under the New R&D Tax Credit it is important to know that this is an entirely new scheme with the rules substantially different to those known under the previous R&D Tax Concession or R&D Tax Offset schemes. Key changes include:

• new definition of eligible R&D
• new tests for supporting activities
• new application of feedstock rules
• new rules surrounding software R&D
• new rules surrounding overseas R&D
• new categorisation of expenditure for the ATO
• new application process

These changes affect all industries and will require all companies to examine current R&D activities to ensure compliance with the new R&D Tax Credit.  However it is important not to rush into any review as AusIndustry will be providing important guidelines in the coming weeks and months that will help with the application of these new rules to specific industries.

Our suggestion in the meantime is to keep on business as usual, continue to keep good records for your R&D activities, particularly labour costs, and where possible, make time to sit with an R&D specialist in the next month or so to get advice for your business situation.

Although there are many changes, it will certainly be possible to obtain good benefits under the New R&D Tax Credit, and we look forward to providing you with more specific information as it comes to hand.

Please do not hesitate to contact us at info@smarttax.com.au if you have any comments or queries. And don’t forget to put in your R&D claim for 2011 now.

Tuesday 16th August 2011 is the date many are expecting Australia’s New R&D Tax Credit program to finally come before the Senate. This is almost 12 months after the first draft of the legislation came before the House of Representatives in September 2010.

With the Department of Innovation Industry Science and Resources Minister Kim Carr having proclaimed an official start date of the New R&D Tax Credit as 1 July 2011, the Senate session in August is expected to finally provide the means for the upper house to pass the two bills required to put the New R&D Tax Credit in motion.

However even at this late stage there is still some uncertainty as to what format the legislation will take. Latest talks with members of Senator Carr’s ministry as well as Treasurer Wayne Swan’s team suggest that while many of the key aspects of the new program such as the 45% and 40% rates of the credit will not change, other important areas such as the feedstock provisions may still have time for adjustment.

The scope and application of the proposed feedstock provisions may effectively prevent many manufacturing activities that are being claimed under the current R&D Tax Concession and R&D Tax Offset programs, from being eligible in the New R&D Tax Credit.

At a point in time where the Federal Government is trying to encourage support for Australian manufacturing industry in the wake of the proposed Carbon Tax, such restrictions could prove to be a double whammy for many small to medium businesses.

Until the final format is known however, the advice of all the experts continues to be “business as usual”.

Are you confident that you are maximising all you can claim in your 2011 R&D Tax Claim? R&D SmartTax has all the up-to-date tools and templates to ensure your business gets every cent it is entitled to. Click Here to view the Template Package now.

Queensland based companies can get excited about a new round of grant funding from the Queensland Government. The Smart Futures Fund is back after announcement about the program in the Budget on 27th June 2011.

From 1 August 2011 companies can apply for a range of programs, some brought forward from prior years, some new. The programs are:

• Proof of Concept Fund
• Co Investment Fund
• Research Partnerships Program
• Local and International Fellowships
• Commercialisation Champions

There isn’t much time until the first round of funding so companies interested in applying need to act fast. For more information visit the Smart Futures Fund on the Queensland Government website here.

If you would like any assistance with these grants or any of the Federal Government R&D tax assistance programs, please make sure to contact us at R&D SmartTax at info@smarttax.com.au.

R&D SmartTax is proud to host Webinar 2 in its free 3-part series for small business accountants on Calculating R&D Expenditure and Deductions. This Webinar will take place on Tuesday 26 July 2011 at 11am EST.

In this detailed and practical webinar you will learn:

 - how to identify eligible R&D expenditure

 - how to categorise expenditure into ATO categories

 - how to calculate eligible R&D deductions

 - how to calculate the exact amount of R&D benefit your client will receive

 - how to maximise R&D tax claims, and

- what to do to minimise compliance risk

There will be plenty of practical examples to help you better understand the boundaries of what is and isn’t included in an R&D tax claim as well as tips on how to really maximise client R&D benefits. In addition, we will also cover how to generate new revenue for your accounting practice with R&D tax claims, creating a win-win situation for you and your client.

Please Click Here to Register Now For Webinar 2: Calculating R&D Expenditure and Deductions.

R&D SmartTax is proud to announce a brand new Template Package along with 4 new templates to help manage all aspects of compliance for R&D Tax Claims.

Our existing Template Package was one of our most popular products and included the R&D Plan and R&D Calculations templates for the R&D Tax Concession and R&D Tax Offset programs.

The 4 new templates we have added to these two favourites are as follows:

1. R&D Trial Record

2. R&D Learnings Report

3. R&D Labour Record

4. R&D Substantiation Checklist

The R&D Trial Record helps to document results and learnings from experimental activities using plant assets and is particularly important if you wish to claim expenditure for experiments. Both AusIndustry and the ATO have been known to focus on this area of compliance with the outcome being a disallowed claim if adequate records do not exist.

The R&D Learnings Report goes beyond the realm of R&D to actually form an important learning document to help your company manage, save and use the results from its projects for maximum benefit. It is particularly useful if there are staff changes and your company doesn’t particularly wish to “reinvent the wheel” the next time the project comes about.

The R&D Labour Record is a popular tool that is used to record employee time on R&D projects in a timely and contemporaneous manner. Most companies use this on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis. Again, this is critical for the ATO to verify labour costs where no timesheets are used.

Finally, the R&D Substantiation Checklist contains a list of all supporting records required to back up your R&D tax claim, to give you an easy, single point of reference for your compliance records.

For those familiar with our R&D Calculations Template, this has also been updated to include a new section to help calculate company overheads. Company overheads are sometimes overlooked when adding up your R&D tax claim, but they can actually be a way to easily maximise your claim.

Our R&D Templates are all tried and tested and we are confident that companies using them will greatly improve their records for R&D tax compliance.

Click HERE to Access the Template Package and make sure your R&D tax compliance is up to date.