The AFR has reported this week that leading technology companies (including Atlassian, Airtasker, Canva and Deputy, among others) have sent a letter to commissioner of taxation, Chris Jordan. The letter reportedly includes an offer to convene a workshop with the ATO to “improve the understanding of software innovation in the tax office and, conversely, address any concerns the ATO has about software related claims”. This letter follows concerns around the eligibility of software development Activity under the R&D Tax Incentive […]
AusIndustry and the ATO have published a joint podcast on business.gov.au this week, featuring Brett Challans (ATO) and Kelly Wiggins (DISER). The podcast discusses key R&D Tax Incentive issues relevant to each department, including: Eligible entities; The self-assessment process; Categories of ineligible expenditure; Records relevant to substantiating the R&D process through systematic progression of work i.e. from hypothesis to conclusions. E.g. emails, project plans, annual reports, lab notebooks and meeting minutes; Records relevant to substantiating expenditure including invoices, contractors and […]
The Federal Court has imposed a record penalty of $22.68M on Mr Paul Enzo Bogiatto and his associated companies for a contravention of promoter penalty involving tax exploitation schemes relating to the R&D Tax Incentive between 2012 and 2015. Mr Bogiatto had previously been deregistered as a tax agent and member of Chartered Accountants Australia in relation to the matters. Various media outlets and Chartered Accountants disciplinary hearings surrounding the matter reported that: Mr Bogiatto would reach out to clients […]
The Government’s annual federal budget is traditionally delivered during May each year, however in 2020 it was deferred until October due to COVID. When the 2020 budget was finally handed down, it provided welcome news for the R&D Tax Incentive, since previously proposed budget cuts were replaced with alternate changes providing additional R&D tax benefits from FY22. The Government’s 2021 federal budget (potentially an election year budget) is due to be handed down in May 2021. InnovationAus has recently summarised […]