You'll need to register for the R&D tax incentive in myIR before claiming R&D tax credits.
Register for the research and development tax incentive
If you're claiming R&D tax credits for 2019-2020, you do not need to seek pre-approval for your R&D activities. For 2020-2021 onwards, you must either apply for general approval on:
- all your R&D activities
- some of your R&D activities, electing to be a significant performer for others
- none of your R&D activities, electing to be a significant performer for all of them.
Before you start
You'll need:
- records of your R&D activities
- records of your R&D expenditure and loss and apportionment of that expenditure
- your income tax return.
Claim R&D tax credits in myIR
From the homepage in your myIR account, select:
- 'Returns and transactions' from your R&D tax incentive account
- the 'Returns' tab
- 'File now' on the tax return year.
You might also see the tax return year under 'Alerts', prompting you to fill in the R&D supplementary return.
For 2019-2020, you'll need to complete your project information and tell us about your core and supporting R&D activities.
For 2020-2021 onwards, this information will self-populate in your R&D supplementary return. It will be based on what you were pre-approved for either by general approval or as a significant performer.
Fill in the research and development supplementary return
Your supplementary return must be filed within 30 days of the due date for your income tax return.
If you're a significant performer and you've submitted a criteria and methodologies application for some or all of your R&D activities, attach your R&D certificate to the supplementary return.
Submit your income tax return
While your income tax return must still be filed within the allowed period, if you file more than 1 year later than that date, you are not eligible for the R&D tax credit.
Log in to myIR
What happens next
Once we have both your income tax return and supplementary return, we can start our evaluation of your application.