R&D Tax Incentive – Online Portal

If you’re lodging an R&D Tax Incentive claim, the AusIndustry portal write-up matters more than most people realise. It’s not about sounding polished. It’s about showing genuine technical uncertainty, experiments, and evidence in plain English.

If you’re a software team spending around $100k+ on development and want this done audit-ready (timesheets, substantiation, technical narrative), book a quick R&D check.

Overview

The R&D Tax Incentive Online Portal is an online space for you to manage your interactions with the R&D Tax Incentive program.

Background

The R&D Tax Incentive will have an updated application process. You’ll be able submit your application using our R&D Tax Incentive customer portal.

How to access the R&D Tax Incentive – Online Portal

The way you apply for the R&D Tax Incentive is changing. Instead of downloading the PDF Smartform, you will now apply using an online registration form which you access via the customer portal.

Before you can access the R&D Tax Incentive – Online Portal, you need to ensure you have a personal MyGovID and, if you’re the principal authority for a business, have linked your MyGovID to your business by claiming it in the ATO’s Opens in new tabRelationship Authorisation Manager (RAM) system. If you would like other individuals to be able to collaborate on your registration form and act on your behalf, you will also need to authorise them in RAM. If you would like to authorise a business (for example, your tax agency) to collaborate on your registration form and act on your behalf, you can do this after you log into the portal.

It is important you understand this new process because after the transition and full release of the customer portal you will not be able to use the PDF SmartForm to apply.

Portal access for yourself as principal authority

1. Set up your myGovID

myGovID is your Digital Identity. You use it to unlock participating government online services. This includes the new R&D Tax incentive customer portal. Learn how to set up your myGovID.

2. Link your personal myGovID to your company’s ABN

The principal authority for your company will need to authorise your personal myGovID to work on behalf of your company.

If a myGovID has already been linked to your company’s ABN, your myGovID can also be linked by using the ATO’s Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM).

If no one else has been linked before, the principal authority will need to contact the ATO. To do this, they should follow the instructions How to link your business.

3. Login to the portal

Once you’ve linked your myGovID to your company’s ABN, you’ll be able to log in to the portal.

Authorising portal access for your staff

The principal authority or authorisation administrator for your company will need to authorise staff to access the customer portal. This will make them an authorised user.

1. Request the staff member to set up their myGovID.
2. Ask the staff member for their full name as used for their myGovID, as well as their preferred email address for access code.
3. Login to the ATO’s Relationship authorisation manager (RAM).
4. Authorise the staff member’s personal myGovID to work on behalf of the company using RAM. See set up authorisations and manage authorisations for more details.
5. Inform the staff member that they have been authorised and will receive an authorisation code which they need to activate in RAM within 7 days. Once activated they’ll be able to login to the R&DTI customer portal.

Authorising portal access for an individual tax agent or R&D consultant

The principal authority or authorisation administrator for your company will need to authorise the individual tax agent or R&D consultant to access the customer portal. This will make them an authorised user.

1. Request the individual tax agent or R&D consultant to set up their myGovID.
2. Ask the individual tax agent or R&D consultant for their full name as used for their myGovID, as well as their preferred email address for access code.
3. Login to the ATO’s Relationship authorisation manager (RAM).
4. Authorise the individual tax agent or R&D consultant’s personal myGovID to work on behalf of the company using RAM. See set up authorisations and manage authorisations for more details.
5. Inform the individual tax agent or R&D consultant that they have been authorised and will receive an authorisation code which they need to activate in RAM within 7 days. Once activated they’ll be able to login to the R&DTI customer portal.

If no one else has been linked to your company before, the principal authority will need to get portal access first.

Authorising portal access for a tax agency or R&D consultancy

The principal authority or authorisation administrator of your company can authorise access of a tax agency or R&D consultancy by using the Manage access option in the R&DTI customer portal.

1. Login to the R&DTI customer portal.
2. Click the ‘Manage access’ option on the ‘Manage your applications’ dashboard.
3. Click ‘Add new authorisation’ on the ‘Manage Access’ screen, under the ‘Business authorisations’ heading.
4. Enter the ABN for the tax agency or R&D consultancy you want to authorise.
5. Select ‘Tax professional’ as the relationship.
6. Enter the start and end dates for the authorisation period. Note the start date can’t be back dated.
7. Click ‘Add authorisation’.
8. Inform the tax agent or R&D consultant they can now log in to the R&DTI customer portal.

If no one else has been linked to your company before, the principal authority will need to get portal access first.

More Information

• Source
• Changes to the R&D Tax Incentive application form – Overview fact sheet
• Guidance on application questions