Good grants – It’s all in the timing!
Perhaps you’ve already lodged your 2016/17 R&D Tax Incentive claim. If not, it’s worth noting that the statutory deadline to register R&D activities with AusIndustry for that year is 30 April 2018. While some very limited discretion for late lodgement exists in the legislation, there is ostensibly no opportunity to claim R&D Tax Incentive benefits after this deadline passes.
Maybe you’re already thinking about a 2017/18 R&D claim, and planning your application and tax return lodgement to get the associated cash refunds as quickly as possible. If so, well done! You’re one of only a handful of companies that take this pro-active approach. Now is also a great time to check on related internal systems, and ensure that important information specifying and substantiating your R&D activities is being captured routinely.
What about export grants? Are you combining two income years in a first claim? Is it worth claiming this year? The final deadline for lodging Export Market Development Grant (EMDG) claims for 2016/17 is 28 February 2018, but only if you are lodging through an Quality Incentive Program (QIP) consultant. Claims for the 2017/18 year can be made anytime from 1 July 2018 onwards – a little under four months away.
Beyond the well-known R&D Tax Incentive and EMDG programs, there are a range of other State and Federal grants and incentives currently on offer for Australian companies. Different programs come and go, but almost all require some consideration of timing on the part of the Applicant company. Several have fixed statutory deadlines, while others work on discrete funding rounds. Others, although continually open for applications, require a company to be at a particular phase of its development or commercialisation lifecycle to be eligible and/or competitive.
Whether it’s a pro-active consideration of future R&D claims, development of export strategies which maximise grant entitlements, or understanding when might be best to access commercialisation grants or investment incentives, timing is everything when considering access to government funding for your business.
A quarterly review of project status and planned initiatives, together with relevant lodgement deadlines and eligibility requirements for different grant programs is critical in ensuring all available benefits are captured. This also provides a great mechanism to spot “over-the-horizon” grant funding options, and give sufficient time to prepare a fully compliant and competitive application when required.
Nothing is more frustrating than the realisation that your flagship project just missed out on significant funding support that the bank overdraft and shareholders now need to cover. With a little planning and some regular review, significant benefits can be captured to ensure your next product or service development makes it to market with the maximum possible assistance from government funding sources.
For further information on Government Grants feel free to contact the team at www.abjsolutions.com.au or email admin@abjsolutions.com.au
Joe Boyd & Tony Barakat
ABJ Business Solutions Pty Ltd
M: +61 401 991 495
M: +61 405 534 934
E: tbarakat@abjsolutions.com.au
