The registration deadline is the one date in the R&D Tax Incentive that cannot be fixed by amending a tax return. Activities have to be registered with AusIndustry within ten months of the end of the income year, so for a company with a 30 June year end the 2025-26 activities are due by 30 April 2027. This article is for companies that have missed it, or are about to, and want to know what can still be done.
First, check which deadline you actually missed
Two different things are often called the R&D deadline. Registration with AusIndustry is the first, and it is the one that is hard to recover. Putting the offset into the company tax return is the second. If the activities were registered on time but the offset was left out of the return, or the return went in late, the claim can usually still be made by lodging or amending the return within the normal amendment period.
That second situation is common. The ATO’s 2023-24 R&D data includes 203 claims for earlier years, worth $420 million between them, from companies whose returns came in after those years’ figures were first published. A late tax return is a nuisance. A missed registration is a different problem.
Asking AusIndustry for more time
AusIndustry can allow a company to register after the deadline, but it is a decision it makes case by case and it is the exception rather than the rule. The request explains what happened, why the deadline was missed and how quickly you acted once you knew. In our experience the requests that succeed have three things in common.
- A reason outside the company’s control. Serious illness of the person responsible, a natural disaster, a system failure at the wrong moment. Being busy, a change of staff or not knowing about the deadline rarely carries weight.
- Speed. A request made days after the deadline reads very differently from one made months later. If you have just realised, act this week.
- A complete application behind it. The registration should be ready to go with the request, so AusIndustry can see the activities are properly described and the claim is real.
There is no guarantee, and a refused request generally cannot be argued round. That is why it is worth getting the request right the first time.
If the claim cannot be registered
The spending is not wasted. R&D expenditure that cannot be claimed under the incentive can generally still be deducted in the ordinary way in the tax return, at the company tax rate. What is lost is the extra the incentive adds on top: for a company under $20 million, the difference between a 43.5 per cent refundable offset and a 25 per cent deduction, which on $500,000 of R&D is $92,500.
The activities themselves are not lost either. Where the same project carries on into the current year, the work done this year can be registered for this year, and the records from last year still support it.
Making sure it does not happen again
Most missed registrations come from treating it as a job for April. The fix is to treat it as a job for July: register as soon as the year’s activities are clear, rather than waiting for the tax return to be prepared. We set out what to put in place at the start of the year in what to set up from 1 July, and the current dates are in the 2025-26 registration deadline.
Companies with a year end other than 30 June need particular care, because the deadline moves with the year. A company with a 31 December year end registers by 31 October, which catches out groups that are used to the Australian April date.
Questions we are asked
When is the R&D Tax Incentive registration deadline?
The AusIndustry rule is that activities are registered within ten months of the end of the income year. For a 30 June year end, 2025-26 activities must be registered by 30 April 2027.
Can I register for the R&D Tax Incentive after the deadline?
Only if AusIndustry agrees to extend the time, which it decides case by case. In our experience it looks for a reason outside the company’s control, a request made quickly, and a complete registration ready to lodge with it.
I registered on time but did not claim the offset in my tax return. Is it too late?
Usually not. Where the activities were registered on time, the offset can generally be claimed by amending the company tax return within the normal amendment period.
What happens to R&D spending I can no longer claim under the incentive?
It can generally still be deducted as an ordinary business expense at the company tax rate. The extra benefit of the incentive is what is lost.
If you have just missed it
Talk to us before you lodge anything. A request for more time is worth getting right the first time, and if it is not the right path we can tell you what the spending is still worth. Get in touch.
How we can helpR&D Tax Incentive advisory Eligibility, registration with AusIndustry and the claim itself, prepared with the records a review would ask to see.
