Instruments remade to support R&D Tax Incentive

The Research & Development (R&D) Tax Incentive is the Australian Government’s primary innovation support program, providing over 11,000 companies with over $2.5 billion in tax offsets each year to encourage business to invest more in R&D activities that are likely to deliver spillover benefits to the broader economy and lift productivity growth.

The Industry Research and Development Regulations and the Industry Research and Development Decision-making Principles under the Industry Research and Development Act 1986 have been remade with minimal changes to ensure continuity of administration of the R&D Tax Incentive, as the 2011 version of these instruments were due to automatically end this year.

The Regulations direct the way we manage approved forms, findings certificates, and requirements for research service providers. They commenced on 22 March 2022. The Decision-making Principles apply in relation to decisions in relation to extensions of time, refusal to make requested findings, and variations of registrations. They commenced on 31 March 2022. The changes were informed by public consultation.

The updated version of the Regulations refers to the ANZSRC 2020, which came about due to a review to ensure the classification reflected current practice and to improve coverage, coherence and consistency across the classification. ANZSRC 2020 was jointly developed by the ABS, Stats NZ, the Australian Research Council and the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, and replaces ANZSRC 2008. Adopting the ANZSRC 2020 means that our forms that rely on the definition of ‘field of research’ are changing to include the updated classification.