In-year payments for R&D Tax Incentive coming soon

The Research and Development Tax incentive provides a 15% credit to businesses performing eligible research and development activities. Since it was implemented in 2019, the scheme has supported over $1 billion in research and development activity in Aotearoa New Zealand.

When the in-year payment scheme is introduced, businesses will be eligible for in-year payments if they have submitted their applications and their anticipated tax credit isn’t offset by provisional tax payments. After the application is approved, businesses will receive payments during the year that they spend money on eligible research and development activity.

Tax Management New Zealand will deliver the in-year payments scheme with further details about how the scheme will work and its start date will be available later this year.

The in-year payments will be paid to businesses as an interest-free loan, repayable when the corresponding Research and Development Tax Incentive credit is available.

In the meantime, businesses are encouraged to apply for general approval on their research and development activities so they’re in a position to qualify for in-year payments when the scheme goes live.

For more information about the Research and Development Tax Incentive, please visit MBIE’s webpage:

Research and Development Tax Incentive(external link)