Customarily, when people consider innovation they often concentrate on the end product – i.e. the app, the software or the piece of hardware. However, they generally dismiss the steps beforehand that are essential in developing the aforementioned innovative artefact. In particular, policies can play a large part in the innovation process. In relation to this, there have been significant announcements regarding innovation policies of late. On Tuesday night, the 2016-17 Federal Budget was released, which notably proposed changes to lower […]
Innovation has become progressively debated in public discourse of late, leading to a significant focus on the R&D Tax Incentive in the last 12 months. This week, however, a positive development was made that will no doubt be welcomed by the innovation ecosystem in Australia. To clarify, a proposed 1.5% cut to the R&D Tax Incentive under the Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2015 Measures No. 3) Bill 2015 will not ensue – the Bill before the senate has lapsed and […]
This submission outlines our view in response to the Australian Federal Government’s Tax Discussion White Paper “Re:think”. Re:think contains two questions concerning innovation: Question 39: Does the R&D tax incentive encourage companies to conduct R&D activities that would otherwise not be conducted in the absence of government support? Would alternative approaches better achieve this objective and, if so, how? Question 40: What other taxation incentives, including changes to existing measures, are appropriate to encourage investment in innovation and entrepreneurship? Australia […]
At the announcement of the May 2014 budget, the Federal Government proposed to decrease the refundable and non-refundable R&D tax offsets by 1.5% for FY15. The reduction in the R&D tax offset rates was proposed to commence one year prior to the 1.5% reduction in corporate rate for FY16. Had the R&D Tax Offset rates reduced one year prior to the corporate tax rate as proposed, the permanent effective benefit of the R&D Tax Incentive would have dropped in FY15, then been […]