What this report details
Our reporting has 2 parts:
- Part 1 – the Report of data about research and development tax incentive entitiesExternal Link, published on Data.gov.auExternal Link
- Part 2 – this Research and development tax incentive – transparency report, which provides an explanation of the data to help you understand it.
The Report of data about research and development tax incentive entities 2021–22 provides information on companies that have claimed the R&D tax incentive (R&DTI) in the 2021–22 income year. It's the first Report of data about research and development tax incentive entities we have published, and we'll continue to publish these reports annually.
It details data the R&D entity (an entity eligible to register R&D activities and claim R&D tax offsets in any given year) reported in its company tax return. The data for the 2021–22 income year was extracted on 31 July 2024 with all data accurate at that time.
Section 3H of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 specifies the data we are required to report. Publishing this data:
- encourages voluntary compliance with the requirements of the R&DTI program
- increases public awareness of which companies have claimed the tax incentive.
Observations
There was significant investment in R&D activities by businesses in the 2021–22 income year. The R&DTI program incentivises companies, regardless of size or industry, to perform R&D activities they may not otherwise undertake due to the associated costs and risks involved.
Small businesses engaged heavily, with 5,574 entities involved in the R&D program over the 2021–22 income year. Public and multinational businesses invested the most in R&D with a total of $4.9 billion in expenditure claimed.
The professional, scientific and technical services industry (which includes businesses such as scientific research, computer system design and accounting services) invested more than any other industry, with 43% of the claims.
Highlights
- The total amount of R&D expenditure claimed in the 2021–22 income year is $11.2 billion.
- 11,545 companies claimed R&D expenditure in the 2021–22 income year.
- Public and multinational businesses invested the most on R&D in the 2021–22 income year, with a total of $4.9 billion claimed.
- Small businesses had the highest percentage of claimants, making up 48% of the total population.
- The industry with the highest number of claimants across all business populations is the professional, scientific and technical services industry, making up 43% of claims.
- Australian-owned companies accounted for 97.8% of this year's population, with 11,286 reporting R&D expenditure.
Interpreting the results
The Report of data about research and development tax incentive entities 2021–22 identifies companies that claimed expenditure under the tax incentive in the 2021–22 income year, where their income year began on or after 1 July 2021. The total amount of R&D expenditure each company claimed is published. Companies claiming the tax incentive with a 2021–22 income year beginning before 1 July 2021 will not be disclosed. There are approximately 850 such companies in the 2021–22 income year.
If a company has adjusted their claim by requesting an amendment, we report their original claim and their adjusted claim, if it was processed by 31 July 2024. There are 241 R&D entities that have their amended total R&D expenditure published. Commissioner-initiated amendments following a review or audit are not published. Legislation stipulates only amendments reported by companies will be published.
The Report of data about research and development tax incentive entities will be updated on an annual basis to include new or amended information for companies that lodge or amend a claim after the current year's report is published.
It does not disclose the amount of the tax incentive each R&D entity received or whether it was refundable or non-refundable.
There are companies within the report that are reported with a 'nil' dollar claim. This could be because:
- their feedstock adjustments are more than the notional deductions
- the R&D entity adjusted the amount in their tax return – for these, we've published the original total R&D expenditure claimed and the nil amount
- the R&D entity did not provide information regarding total R&D expenditure.
Figures in this report have generally been rounded, which may result in differences between totals and sums of components in the charts and text compared to that in the data report.