Who it's for
You might be eligible if you build software and solve genuinely hard problems.
The R&D Tax Incentive rewards the work good engineering teams do every week: building something where the answer was not known in advance, and you had to experiment to find it. Here is how to tell in under a minute.
The four-question self-check
0 of 4-
1
Are you an Australian company?
Incorporated in Australia (a Pty Ltd), or a foreign company with an Australian permanent establishment, paying Australian income tax. Sole traders, partnerships and trusts do not qualify.
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2
Do you build software in-house?
You have your own engineering team writing code, and that work lives in GitHub. We read your development history to find your R&D, so a real code trail matters.
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3
Are you solving problems where the outcome was not obvious?
The incentive is for technical uncertainty: building something a competent engineer could not just look up or buy, where you had to experiment to get there. Not routine coding, bug fixes, config, or wiring together off-the-shelf tools.
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4
Do you spend at least $20,000 a year on this work?
That is the minimum eligible R&D spend. Mostly it is engineering salaries for time on the hard problems.
Keep going
Answer all four to see where you stand. 0 of 4 so far.
Good fit
What good-fit work looks like
- + A SaaS or platform company building novel features, not just standard CRUD apps.
- + A team doing AI/ML, data engineering, or algorithm work that pushes past existing tools.
- + Building performance, scale, or reliability solutions where the approach was not a known quantity.
- + Working on hardware, firmware, IoT, fintech infrastructure, biotech tooling, or deep-tech.
- + A startup that prototyped, hit walls, reworked the approach, and eventually cracked it.
Not a fit - and we will tell you
When it is not a fit
- × Not a company (sole trader, partnership, trust).
- ×No Australian tax presence.
- × Under $20,000 of eligible R&D activity a year.
- × Routine work only: standard websites, configuring a platform, integrations, maintenance.
- ×No code history to draw on.
- × Looking for a "maximise my claim" shortcut. We stay deliberately conservative.
[ industries ] - who we see most
Company types that tend to qualify.
01
SaaS & platforms
Building novel product features and platform capabilities, not just standard CRUD apps.
02
AI/ML & data
Models, pipelines and algorithm work that pushes past what existing tools can do.
03
Fintech infrastructure
Payments, ledgers and risk systems where reliability and correctness are not a solved problem.
04
Deep-tech & hardware
Firmware, IoT and embedded work close to the metal, where the approach is not off the shelf.
05
Biotech & scientific tooling
Software for instruments, analysis and lab workflows where the method is still being worked out.
06
Scale & reliability
Teams solving performance, scale or reliability problems where the path was not a known quantity.
[ next ] - build the number