R&D Tax Incentive lodgement service

Clear, defensible R&D lodgements – without winging it.

If you’re here because you want your R&D Tax Incentive lodged properly, and you don’t want to wing it, you’re in the right place.

Most businesses don’t get into trouble because they didn’t do R&D. They get into trouble because the write-up is vague, the evidence is messy, or the costs don’t stack up the way AusIndustry and the ATO expect.

I’m Ben Cusack from Bulletpoint. We help businesses lodge their R&D Tax Incentive in a way that’s clear, defensible, and doesn’t rely on copy and paste from last year.

If you want to talk, book a meeting here.

What “R&D Lodgement Service” Actually Means?

A proper lodgement isn’t just “fill in AusIndustry and the accountant does the rest”.

It’s three parts working together.

Technical story – What you were trying to achieve, what was unknown, what you tested, and what changed.
Evidence – Enough records to show the work really happened, without creating a paperwork hobby.
Costs – Salary, contractors, overheads, software, hosting and more, apportioned in a way that’s reasonable and explainable.

That’s the job.

Who This Is For?

This service is usually a fit if:

you’re ready to lodge this year and want it done properly
you’ve claimed before but you’re not confident the last one would hold up
your accountant is solid, but they don’t want to own the technical narrative
you’ve got devs, engineers, or technical staff doing real work – not marketing “innovation”
you need help with apportionment and documentation, not just a template

If you’re only researching what the program is, this page probably isn’t for you. No stress.

What You Get With Bulletpoint?

Here’s what our R&D Tax Incentive lodgement support usually includes:

eligibility and risk check (we’ll tell you if it’s weak)
technical interviews with the people doing the work
mapping core and supporting R&D activities properly
guidance on what evidence to keep (and what not to overdo)
cost review and an apportionment method you can actually explain
drafting the AusIndustry registration content
working with your accountant so the AusIndustry side and ATO schedule align
a lodgement-ready pack so you’re not scrambling at the end

What We Need From You

You don’t need perfect timesheets. You do need access to the right information.

Typically:

a walkthrough of what you were building or improving
who worked on it and roughly when
whatever evidence already exists (tickets, commits, test results, notes, emails, designs)
financial extracts or GL detail so the cost method is grounded in records
your accountant’s details so we can align everything

If you feel under-documented, that’s common. The goal isn’t to invent evidence. It’s to organise what’s already there.

Common Lodgement Mistakes (That Create Headaches Later)

These are the ones we see most often:

vague descriptions like “we built an innovative platform”
no clear technical unknown being tested
no real experimentation – just a build story
copying last year’s narrative and hoping it passes
claiming overheads without a method anyone can follow
costs that don’t match the technical story
a provider who hands you a template and makes you write the guts of it

If any of that sounds familiar, it’s worth a chat before you lodge.

Book a Chat Here

Can I Use AI to Write the R&D Application?

You can — but it’s risky.

AI is great at sounding confident while staying generic. Generic is the problem.

AusIndustry isn’t marking your English. They’re looking for whether the activities, uncertainties, and progression make sense and match real work.

If your narrative could be swapped with another company’s and still read fine, it’s probably too fluffy.

We write from interviews with your team. Specific beats polished every day of the week.

How the Lodgement Process Works

Usually it looks like this:

initial call to confirm scope, year, spend range, and what you’ve actually done
technical interviews
evidence and cost inputs
draft AusIndustry registration for your review
alignment with your accountant for the tax return schedule
lodge

Straightforward. No theatre.

Why Use a Specialist If I Already Have an Accountant?

Because the R&D Tax Incentive isn’t mainly an accounting exercise.
The technical narrative is the hard part.

Most accountants don’t want to run technical interviews or defend the R&D position. Fair enough. That’s our lane.

The best setup is usually:

we handle the technical story, evidence logic, and cost method
your accountant handles the tax return and schedule lodgement

Fees

Fees depend more on complexity than spend.

Key drivers include:

number of projects or workstreams
staff and contractors involved
how clean the records are
first claim versus an established program

Book in and we’ll give you a clear steer quickly.

Book a Free Grant Strategy Call Book an R&D Tax Check

About Bulletpoint

We’re Melbourne-based.
We’ve lodged 500+ R&D claims and we’re rated 4.8★ from 250+ Google reviews.

★★★★★ Read Our 250+ Google Reviews