Ignition Insights

In a consolidated group the head company claims. In an R&D partnership each partner registers separately. A JV depends on what it actually is.

You generally can't claim the purchase price of R&D equipment. You claim its decline in value for the R&D use — then a balancing adjustment on disposal.

Exploration drilling is an excluded core activity. What mining and METS companies can claim usually sits downstream — in processing, recovery and autonomy.

Season-long vineyard and paddock trials can be eligible R&D — but only where the outcome was genuinely unknown and the work was designed as an experiment.

Defence and space suppliers often develop under a funded contract. Whether the R&DTI is available turns on the at-risk rule and who the R&D was for.

A first R&DTI claim is two lodgments in a fixed order: register with AusIndustry, then claim at the ATO. Plain-English first-timer guide. Not tax advice.

Founder and director wages can form part of an R&DTI claim — but associate timing, market-rate and paid-vs-accrued rules trip owners up. Here's the shape.

Certification and standards testing cannot be core R&D, but may be a supporting activity. Developing the wall or façade you test may itself be core.

Many legal-judgement tasks lack one uncontested answer. Build a measurable hypothesis, an adjudicated reference set and an honest agreement benchmark.