R&D tax credits & incentives

Tax credits and incentives can be a major driver of growth for businesses, supporting their innovation and R&D initiatives. They are available by city, state, province or nationally in most of the world’s jurisdictions. Our global team can assist you in identifying these programmes as well as other potential sources of financing. We can also help with submission of applications to tax and government authorities.

Our approach

Mazars research and development tax group offer a unique brand of scientific and tax advice to a large number of international and indigenous companies on research and development tax credit services.

When it comes to investments and location selection, tax credits and incentives can often be a deciding factor. Governments around the world offer incentives to companies that elect to do business in their jurisdiction. Finding and securing such incentives often requires knowledgeable advice and technical guidance.

The credit may be used in a number of different ways:

• Offset against the current year corporation tax liability
• Offset against the previous year corporation tax liability
• Carried forward against future years corporation tax liabilities
• More importantly refunded to the company

Therefore, the total tax benefit of qualifying research and development expenditure is 37.5% when in addition to the tax credit one takes into account the normal 12.5% corporation tax deduction for the expenditure. The credit can yield significant cash flow and cost benefits to companies where the tax credit claim is optimised.

We have assembled a team of tax and scientific technical experts who have a wide range of experience in the following sectors:

• Food & beverage
• Technology, media & telecommunications
• Process engineering
• Mechanical engineering
• Manufacturing
• Medical and biotechnology

A wide range of activities in the areas of technology, pharmaceutical, medical device/ product engineering and food /ingredient manufacturing often demonstrate obvious “white coat” R&D tax credit suitability. However ancillary activities deemed internally as “normal/standard” activities may very often qualify for inclusion in a claim. In addition to the normal costs of raw materials and direct wages that may be attributed to research and development, other items such as overheads and management costs may also be included in a claim on a just and reasonable basis.

In addition to revenue costs on research and development, there is also a tax credit available for capital expenditure on plant and machinery and buildings used for research and development purposes.

We have a wide and in-depth range of practical experience both in advising clients on the availability of the research and development tax credit and also interacting with the Revenue Commissioners where claims are examined.

Our dedicated team of tax and accounting professionals will guide you through the process of claiming available tax credits and incentives from the applicable governments and authorities. We advise on the incentives that are right for your business and its growth plans. Our national teams have extensive contacts with authorities in each of the jurisdictions in which we operate, as well as the expertise in compliance, reporting and local follow-up requirements needed to secure your benefits.

Mazars R&D services

• Research and development tax credit claims.
• Research and development grant claims.
• Advice and support services during a Revenue audit.
• Review of claims submitted to the Revenue Commissioners.
• Research and development project reviews.
• Claim planning to maximise legitimate use of credits and incentives.
• Drafting applications, project descriptions and financial data summaries to support claims.
• Follow-up with local authorities to ensure benefits materialise.