Australian R&D Tax Incentive
Department of Industry, Science and Resources / ATO · R&D tax credit
VariesRefundable tax offset of company tax rate + 18.5 percentage points for companies with aggregated turnover under A$20M; non-refundable offset of tax rate + 8.5pp (R&D intensity ≤2%) / +16.5pp (>2%) for larger companies
Australia's main R&D incentive; small loss-making startups receive a cash refund of part of their eligible R&D spend.
Key terms
- Must register R&D activities each income year (within 10 months of year-end) before claiming with the ATO
- Minimum A$20,000 eligible R&D expenditure (unless via Research Service Provider)
- Australian-incorporated company (or foreign resident with permanent establishment)
- Changes announced in 2026–27 Budget apply from 1 July 2028
Eligibility
- Where
- Australia
- Stages
- pre-seed, seed, series-a, growth
- Needs VC/accelerator backing
- No
- Needs partner referral code
- No
- Must be incorporated
- Yes
- AI focus required
- No
- Students / researchers
- Not eligible
- Nonprofits
- Not eligible
Also required
- Advance finding available for certainty
How to apply
Register activities with business.gov.au (portal) after year-end, then claim the offset in the company tax return.
- Benefit
- cash
- Equity-free
- Yes
- Decision time
- —
- Credit validity
- —
- Deadline
- Rolling (register within 10 months of income-year end)
- Status
- Open
Verified 2026-10-22 · source