Increasing support for business R&D

Australian businesses will receive a significant boost in support for research and development, under new R&D tax incentive legislation introduced into Parliament.

Innovation Minister Kim Carr said the important reform will encourage more Australian companies to engage in R&D, providing Australians with the high-end technologies and skills needed to compete in a competitive global market.

“This will make Australian companies more innovative, productive and prosperous and position them to create jobs for the future.

Senator Carr said that from 2010-11 the government would replace the complex and outdated R&D Tax Concession with a simplified R&D Tax Credit that gives business better incentives to invest in research and development.

“The new scheme will stimulate more of Australia’s two million businesses to undertake research and development rather than just the 8000 that benefit from the current concession.

“The R&D Tax Credit doubles the incentive for small and medium enterprises - the engine room of the economy - while increasing, by a third, the incentive for big business to undertake R&D.

“Small innovative firms are big winners from the new R&D Tax Credit, with greater access to cash refunds for their R&D expenditure and more generous rates of assistance.

“This legislation follows an independent review of the national innovation system and almost a year of consultation with key stakeholders,” Senator Carr said.

The R&D Tax Credit will focus on supporting genuine R&D and be worth $1.5 billion a year to industry.

The new R&D tax incentive is contained in the Tax Laws Amendment (Research and Development) Bill 2010 and the Income Tax Rates Amendment (Research and Development ) Bill 2010, introduced this week.