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Keeping records

Describes the records, the nature and the relationship of the expenditure to the R&D activities.

Last updated 20 November 2022

Business records

Your business recordsExternal Link must be sufficient to verify the:

  • amount of the expenditure incurred on R&D activities
  • nature of the R&D activities
  • relationship of the expenditure to the activities.

Keep documents to show how you apportioned expenditure between your eligible core R&D activities and supporting R&D activities as opposed to your other non-R&D activities.

It is your responsibility to satisfy us that you used reasonable methods to differentiate between your expenditure on R&D activities and your expenditure on non-R&D activities.

Specific R&D records

You will need to retain documents such as reports detailing:

  • the R&D activities you carried out
  • who conducted the R&D activities
  • the time your staff spent on the R&D activities.

Generally, you must keep records for a minimum of 5 years. We may impose a penalty if you don't keep proper records.

You can find more information about keeping records to substantiate registered R&D activities, on the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science websiteExternal Link.

QC70951