Grants

Do you know if you can claim any Government Grants or Concessions?

Are you a small or medium sized business?
Yes!

• have you created a new product, process or service? or
• have you modified an existing product?

If so, are you confident that you are recognising all Research & Development or Export related activities and expenditure, and are satisfying AusIndustry's or Austrade's requirements?

If you are not sure, then here is further information on what Grants & Concessions are available, and how we can help you obtain these:

Grants & Concessions

The Government provides a range of grants and concessions to assist Australian businesses to become increasingly competitive in the global market place.

M Squared & Associates have experts who specialise in assisting businesses in obtaining these Federal incentives such as:

• Research and development (R&D) tax concession
• Research and development (R&D) tax offset
• EMDG (Export Market Development Grant)
• Commercialising Emerging Technologies (COMET)
• Other grants

We advise on the Grant and Concession availability and suitability, assist with the preparation of the relevant applications and documentation, and communicate on your behalf with the relevant government bodies.

Research and Development (R&D) Tax Concessions

What is it?

The Australian research and development (R&D) tax concession uplifts an eligible company's expenditure on research and development by an initial factor of 25% (plus an additional 50% premium uplift in certain circumstances).

In order to claim the concession, businesses need to register their activities with the Federal Government on an annual basis and within 10 months following the end of their financial year end. In order to complete the annual registration process, businesses ordinarily need to have in place various documentary material, including research and development (R&D) plans, records of the research and development (R&D) activities undertaken, and can demonstrate that the claimed research and development expenditure incurred is associated with systematic, experimental and investigative activities undertaken with the purpose of creating new or improved materials, products, processes, devices or services and these activities either involved innovation or a high level of technical risk.

How we can help!

M Squared regularly assists clients with the registration process and the identification and quantification of eligible research and development activities and expenditure as well as ensuring that all the necessary documentation to support a tax concession claim is in place.

How much does it cost you?

It is noteworthy that many clients choose to obtain M Squared's services in this area using a 'success-fee' based methodology, whereby the fee paid to M Squared is a function of the value added by M Squared as a result of uplifting ordinary expenses to 'super' expenses. In the event that M Squared cannot demonstrate a value add arising from the R & D Tax Concession, clients pay nothing.

Research and Development (R&D) Tax Offset

What is it?

The research and development (R&D) tax offset is an extension of the research and development (R&D) tax concession (above) and is limited to Australian companies with an R&D spend that is less than $1 million and a gross turnover less than $5 million.

The research and development (R&D) tax offset is effectively an inflow of cash from the Australian Taxation Office representing the conversion of a company's carry forward tax losses arising from research and development activities into a cash refund cheque. Many small businesses find the cash inflow from their research and development activities conducted in any one year; enable that company to continue the research and development activities into a subsequent year.

Another significant benefit is found in "cashing" out losses which are then not subject to the loss integrity provisions including "continuity of ownership" (COT) and "Same Business Test" (SBT).

How we can help!

Similarly to the research and development tax concession, M Squared assists clients with the registration process and the identification and quantification of eligible research and development activities and expenditure as well as ensuring that all the necessary documentation to support the tax concession and tax offset claim is in place.

How much does it cost you?

As described in the R & D Tax Concession, many clients choose to obtain M Squared's services in this area using a 'success-fee' based methodology, whereby the fee paid to M Squared is a function of the value added by M Squared as a result of uplifting ordinary expenses to 'super' expenses and the resulting cash refund. In the event that M Squared cannot demonstrate a value add (cash flow) arising from the R & D Tax Concession, clients pay nothing.

EMDG

What is it?

The Export Marketing Development Grant (EMDG) is a non-competitive cash grant that reimburses current and aspiring exporters around half of the monies spent by them in developing an export market for a product or service. The aim of the program is to alleviate the costs associated with creating, developing and maintaining a presence in the global marketplace.

The EMDG is administered by AusTrade and supports a wide range of industrial sectors and products, including the export of intellectual property, the supply of know-how outside of Australia and even inbound tourism.

The program:

• encourages small and medium sized Australian businesses to develop export markets;
• allows up to eight grants to each eligible applicant
• reimburses up to 50% of expenses incurred on eligible export promotional activities above a $10,000 threshold

How we can help!

M Squared has assisted many of its clients to access this particular grant. It's important to realize that the EMDG can only be accessed via a formal registration process with AusTrade and this registration process must be concluded on or before 30 November for the period ended the preceding 30 June. It is also noteworthy that M Squared are prepared to work with our clients on a success fee basis - that is we only get paid a small percentage of what you receive from AusTrade, and you only pay us as you receive the funds from AusTrade.

Comet

What is it?

Commercialising Emerging Technologies (COMET) is a competitive, merit based program that supports companies to successfully commercialise their innovations. Successful applicants are usually companies in the early stages of commercializing an innovation or companies formed by individuals from either public or private research institutions.

Eligible applications are initially assessed against specific merit criteria and then compete for available program funds based on the comparative merit of their application as assessed against the merit criteria.

How we can help!

M Squared regularly assists clients to identify suitable projects and work with clients to draft quality applications that target the merit criteria. M Squared then finalise and lodge the relevant COMET application for clients with AusIndustry or directly with the WA COMET Business Adviser and work with the COMET adviser as required, ensuring each application has the maximum chance of success.

Other Grants

There are a number of other industry grants available to businesses to assist them to compete in the global market place. M Squared can advise on the availability of these grants and the benefits of applying for them and are prepared to negotiate a tailored mutually agreeable methodology to calculate any fee that reflects the work undertaken and the value added as a result of accessing the relevant grant.

If you want to know the correct answer to these questions, or want to know more about the incentives available, contact us on info@m-2.com.au or (08) 6380 7800.