Posted By: R&D SmartTax

Companies undertaking smart projects in the 2011 financial year may be claiming their R&D tax cheques under a new R&D Tax Credit program, although we may not find out for sure for some weeks yet.

Instigated by the Labour government, legislation for the new R&D Tax Credit was before parliament when the August 21 election was called, and the R&D Tax Credit was put on hold pending the outcome of the election.

However with the Labour win, the new R&D Tax Credit is back on the cards with time and debate to determine what form it will finally take and whether it will apply retrospectively to the 2011 financial year, or whether it will wait until 1 July 2012.

Prior to being put on hold the new R&D Tax Credit showed some promise for small businesses with an increased 45% cash benefit compared with the current 37.5% amount. However there was controversey over plans to tighten the eligibility rules to exclude many commercially-related activities that are currently allowable such as field trials and full scale development for trials. As small businesses generally cannot afford purpose built R&D facilities and therefore undertake R&D activities usually with a customer in mind, any plans to make commercial activities ineligible would mean a drop in the R&D benefit for small companies.

R&D SmartTax will announce details of the new R&D Tax Credit as soon they are released and will also be first to release a new R&D Eligibility Wizard specifically for the R&D Tax Credit. This will save companies time and effort in deciphering the new rules, letting you know exactly how much you can get back for your smart ideas.

For any queries, please contact R&D SmartTax at [email protected] or visit our website www.smarttax.com.au

About R&DSmartTax

R&D SmartTax tools were born out of a desire to help the many smart small Australian companies access the R&D Tax Break benefits without the need for hours spent reading tax literature or expensive consultant fees. The R&D Eligibility Wizard is designed to be low cost, easy to use and available for all Australian industries.

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