You can get help and advice about the R&D tax incentive from us, from Innovation and Science Australia and from the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. The type of help and advice you receive will depend on your specific needs and circumstances, and whether you want an answer in writing.
Using a tax agent or R&D consultant
If you are planning to pay someone to help you prepare and lodge your tax return or R&D tax incentive schedule, you need to make sure they are a registered tax agent.
Only a registered tax agent can charge a fee to prepare and lodge your tax return, or give other services described as 'tax agent services'. They must be registered with the Tax Practitioners Board and must follow strict laws that ensure they act in a professional manner.
Tax agent services, if given for a fee or reward, include advising and helping you with tax concessions for expenditure incurred on research and development activities if it involves applying tax laws. So, an R&D consultant may be required to be registered with the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB).
If you aren't sure if your tax agent is registered, either:
- ask to see their Certificate of Registration
- visit the Tax Practitioners Board website tpb.gov.auExternal Link and search the tax agent register.
Who administers what
We and Innovation and Science Australia (assisted by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science) administer the R&D tax incentive jointly.
The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (for Innovation and Science Australia) manages the registration of your R&D activities and checks that they comply with the law.
We decide whether the expenditure you are claiming for your R&D activities is eligible. Seek help or advice from the agency that administers the aspect of the program that relates to your query.
Innovation and Science Australia and the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science offer public guidance and advance Findings about the program so that R&D entities are better informed about their entitlements and obligations. Their Findings set out how their decisions apply to you and your specific circumstances.
What we offer
We offer different types of advice and guidance that give our view on how the laws we administer apply. These range from published guidance about how the law applies generally, to advice given to a taxpayer about how the law applies to their particular circumstances. They include:
- private rulings that set out our opinion about the way a tax law applies to you in specific circumstances
- public rulings that deal with priority issues that require clarifying and include
- Product rulings (intended to give certainty to participants about an arrangement)
- Class rulings (intended to minimise the need for a group of participants to individually seek private rulings about the same scheme).