Your R&D Tax benefit is

Want my R&D Budget template?

  • Easily separate core and supporting costs
  • Calculate overhead costs
  • Includes your own rebate calculator
  • Separates projects and experiments
  • Automatically fills in ATO schedule
  • Includes video walk through
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Did you really undertake eligible R&D?

Just because you did these things, does not make it eligible R&D:
  • Has not been done in Australia before
  • It is the world first product of its kind
  • You made mistakes along the way
  • Your customer did not like it
  • No one bought it
  • You lost money making it or selling it
  • You spent time learning about the market
  • You spent time choosing the right equipment
But it could be eligible if you relate it to a scientific approach.
30 minute consultation ($295)

What is the R&D tax incentive?

Essentially, it is a rebate you get for developing new products and services. As long as you:
  • Spend over $20,000 in one year
  • Operate a Pty Ltd company
  • Undertake the activities in Australia
  • Generate new knowledge
Over 11,000 companies claim the R&D tax incentive per year. But many get it wrong.

What is the main issue?
With over 10 years’ experience and lodging 500+ R&D claims I have seen what works and what doesn’t.What I see is that there is a big difference between what businesses regard as R&D and what the Government deem as eligible R&D.

So, in other words, companies tend to claim things that are not R&D

Do you want to find out if you are actually doing R&D?
30 minute consultation ($295)
Australia’s highest rated R&D Tax Consultant Read the 200+ Google Reviews 

What is the difference?

In simple terms the difference I have found is:
  • Business - You want to develop a new product and make money
  • Government - They want you to develop new knowledge
I help identify what you are doing and relate it to the government criteria

Want to chat about the R&D tax incentive?
You may find it useful to schedule a chat to run through any questions you may have like:

  • What should my hypothesis be?
  • What is the difference between core and supporting?
  • What is my time worth?
  • How should I pay myself as an associate?
  • Can I engage an Australian company that has R&D staff overseas?
  • What if I sell a prototype?
  • How to include R&D done overseas as eligible R&D?
  • What if I get a grant for some of the R&D work?
  • How much will I get back?
  • Should I set up another company to get the higher rebate of 43.5%?
  • What is the process to get the rebate?
  • Are you actually doing eligible R&D?
We can do it via Zoom or phone if you would like
30 minute consultation ($295)

Australia's Highest Rated R&D Tax Consultant
Read the 200+ Google Reviews

Darren Adams
Darren Adams★★★★★
Ben was incredibly helpful & insightful in understanding the grant opportunities & suitability for my company
Angelique Mentis
Angelique Mentis★★★★★
Very responsive, speedy, practical and professional. Great content on their site and youtube channel to help navigate the murky world of grants!
Tim goodman
Tim goodman★★★★★
Ben gave me game changing advice before any discussion around fees. Unusually good customer experience in these times.

What are the problems with getting it wrong?

AusIndustry doesn’t care if you have done R&D or not, they just care what you have written on your R&D application.
Once the deadline is over, you don’t get a chance to resubmit it or change it.
Poor R&D applications trigger audits which are very time consuming.
If you are deemed ineligible, any R&D rebates must be paid back with a 50% penalty applied.

1,000+ SUCCESSFUL R&D APPLICATIONS

Some Recent Feedback From Clients Who I Have Helped Get An R&D Grant

“I emailed Ben as we had a simple query in relation to R&D lodgements for a pre and post consolidation entity and needed confirmation from a R&D specialist. Ben had assisted us with another client previously and we had found his advice useful. He was able to provide us with a solution within a few hours of the email”
Amy Huynh
Amy HuynhSenior Accountant – Greenfield
“I have first come in contact with Ben when trying to understand differences between some government grants. Two quick emails resolved my query. I am now registered for R&D grants! Thanks Ben! I continue reading your emails to stay on top of any new opportunities.”
Stan Zajac
Stan ZajacSoftware Architect – Lake Corp
“We have worked with Bulletpoint for the last 4 years. Ben and his Team are fantastic. They have been great help in getting us the R&D tax incentive rebate each year and enabling our business to grow internationally. Highly recommend.”
Brad Hayden
Brad HaydenDirector – Audition Magic

How do I approach an R&D assessment?

Before I develop an R&D application I conduct an assessment to see if there is eligible R&D.
These are the things I need to know:
  • What are the technical objectives of the project?
  • What are the specific, novel features and components that were built?
  • What are knowledge gaps in the field?
  • Why do you need to test what you are developing?
  • What makes it differ from other products in the market?
  • What makes it differ from other products in the market?
  • What were some of the biggest technical failures (design and testing)?
  • What were some of your key technical issues (iterations, changes, revisions)?
  • What elements of the design/prototype didn’t work as expected?
  • Can you provide outcomes from your testing that were unexpected?
  • What specific elements/components were testing to prove your concept/objectives?
We can do it via Zoom or phone if you would like
30 minute consultation ($295)

Small Business Ombudsman Review

In 2019, the Ombudsman did a review of the excessive R&D audits.
They found:

Late -

“In all cases, this compliance activity was retrospective and commenced several years after the relevant R&D was undertaken and the R&DTI refund received and spent.

Penalties -

“Often these affected businesses were required by the ATO to repay the R&DTI in full, with a severe penalty applied.

Ruin -

“This has had a devastating impact on the businesses involved, with some saying they face financial ruin.

Reduced -

“Others have discontinued or scaled down their R&D efforts in Australia and reduced their R&D staff.

Genuine -

“Most of these small and family businesses were genuine in their belief they were undertaking R&D; their claims were totally justified and they had already invested the money back into the business.

Reduced -

“Others have discontinued or scaled down their R&D efforts in Australia and reduced their R&D staff.

– Kate Carnell – Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman

So, there can be problems with getting it wrong.

Can you write an hypothesis?

The Government wants you to relate what you do into scientific language. I find this is the hardest thing for non-scientists to develop.
Things to keep in mind, what is not a hypothesis:
  • Whether or not people will use your app?
  • Will your app be helpful?
  • Will it be cheap to make?
  • Can it work on mobile phones?
  • Will it save people money?
  • Will it help people?
We can do it via Zoom or phone if you would like
30 minute consultation ($295)

Australia's Highest Rated R&D Tax Consultant
Read the 200+ Google Reviews

Big changes for 2021 R&D Registrations

The Government has brought out a substantially new form for 2020-2021.
Previously, they wanted you to separate your ‘New Knowledge’ from your ‘Experiments’.
Now they want them linked together in an experiment.
If you label a ‘supporting activity’ as a ‘core activity’ – guess what….
– it can be deemed ineligible and any costs associated with it will have to be paid back.

30 minute consultation ($295)

New R&D Form
The new form is more closely aligned with the legislation and the questions are more direct.

  • New Knowledge – Previously, AusIndustry wanted you to separate your ‘New Knowledge’ from your experiments. Now they want them linked together in an experiment.
  • Unknown Outcomes – The ‘Unknown Outcomes’ of the experiment will also need to be directly linked in an experiment. You will need to detail why you couldn’t predict these outcomes in advance.  
 
Australia’s highest rated R&D Tax Consultant
Read the 200+ Google Reviews

The key changes to the Core Activities

Old Form – Core Activity (3,000 characters)
  • Describe the core activity (3,000 characters)
New Form – Core Activity (18,000 characters)
  • What was the hypothesis? (4,000 characters)
  • What was the experiment and how did it test the hypothesis? (4,000 characters)
  • How did you evaluate or plan to evaluate results from your experiment? (4,000 characters)
  • Describe your conclusions (4,000 characters)
  • What new knowledge was this core activity intended to produce? (1,000 characters)
  • Please explain what sources were investigated, what information was found, and why a competent professional could not have known or determined the outcome in advance (1,000 characters)
30 minute consultation ($295)

Been Successful in the past?

“But… I have been ‘successful’ in the past with my R&D claims”. I hear this a lot.
You haven’t been successful in the past, you just haven’t been audited.
Nearly 10,000 applications are not reviewed by AusIndustry annually. But they can review it in the future.
The 2021 R&D Form makes it harder for non-scientifically minded people to describe what they did as eligible R&D.
But it makes it easier for AusIndustry to find non-conforming or ineligible applications.
 

My experience

John Rezga, General ManagerEmerg Technology
"We would absolutely recommend Bulletpoint. I’ve dealt with Ben and the lady that helped us last year, and find them both to extremely. I was also impressed with the follow up, and the way that they communicated. We only had to do the pointers, they did most of the work in writing the whole thing up, putting the right things in and discussed"
Scott Williams, Managing DirectorGreen Bear Recycling
":We have gained access to grants we wouldn’t otherwise have known about, with minimal input from our end."
Martyn Ryan, CEOBenojo
"We have already highly recommended Bulletpoint. We most appreciated their proficiency, frequency and helpfulness around communication, and getting the result that we needed. I continually say to people I have had a positive experience with Ben and the Team, and we will use them again. The obvious knowledge and understanding of the subject matter was impressive, and this had two benefits to us. The first being it helped us navigate through what we were trying to get through, so we could provide the right information.The second benefit was that this information was then collated and put into the format it needed to be, to get the desired result. Pricing and what you represent was spot on."
I am Australia’s highest rated R&D Tax Consultant with over 200+ Google Reviews
Find out how you could be maximising the R&D tax incentive
30 minute consultation ($295)

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R&D Intensity 2022

R&D Budget Template - 2022