George Walch is an Australian accountant and the founder of Rand Advisory. He works with software and health-tech companies on their R&D Tax Incentive claims, and reviews every claim Rand prepares as its Expert Reviewer: Division 355 eligibility, contemporaneous evidence, and claims that hold up when AusIndustry or the ATO looks at them.
Articles by George Walch
When Do You Get Your R&D Tax Incentive Refund in Australia?
How long the R&D tax offset takes to land: registration, lodgement, ATO processing timeframes, what delays payment, and a worked 30 June year-end timeline.
Read articleThe R&D Tax Incentive Portal: Access and Lodgement
How the AusIndustry R&D Tax Incentive portal works: myID and RAM access, registration form fields, the 10-month deadline, variations and the ATO side.
Read articleR&D Tax Incentive: How the Australian Scheme Works
Plain-English guide to Australia's R&D Tax Incentive: who can claim, what qualifies under Division 355, offset rates, and the 10-month registration deadline.
Read articleR&D Tax Incentive Eligibility: The Complete Test
Who qualifies for the R&D Tax Incentive: company eligibility, the $20,000 minimum spend, the s 355-25 core activity test, exclusions and offset rates.
Read articleResearch and Development Tax Incentive: How It Works
What the R&D Tax Incentive is, who can claim, current offset rates, which activities and costs qualify, and how to register before the 30 April deadline.
Read articleR&D Tax Incentive Registration Form: What AusIndustry Asks
Field-by-field map of the AusIndustry R&D registration: projects, core activity questions, character minimums, supporting activities and sign-off.
Read articleAusIndustry Review Process for R&D Tax Claims
How AusIndustry reviews R&D Tax Incentive registrations: check types, triggers, evidence requested, timeframes, findings, and ART appeal rights.
Read articleWhat Evidence AusIndustry Accepts for R&D Tax Claims
The records AusIndustry accepts as proof of registered R&D activities, mapped to each s 355-25 criterion, plus what contemporaneous means in practice.
Read articleR&D Tax Incentive Record Keeping: Contemporaneous Evidence
What records the ATO and AusIndustry expect for an R&D claim, what contemporaneous really means, how long to keep them, and a checklist by claim stage.
Read articleWhat R&D Expenditure Can You Claim in Australia?
Salaries, contractors, associates, overheads and depreciation: which costs qualify under Division 355, how to apportion them, and what is excluded.
Read articleHow to Write an R&D Tax Incentive Technical Narrative
A field-by-field guide to AusIndustry activity descriptions: hypothesis, sources investigated, experiment, evaluation and new knowledge, with worked examples.
Read articleR&D Tax Incentive changes in the 2025 Budget
What the 2025 Budget did and did not change for the R&DTI: rates, the gambling and tobacco exclusion, the $50M threshold and the new AusIndustry form.
Read articleR&D Advisory Services: What They Do and How to Choose
What Australian R&D advisory services actually deliver, how they price the work, the questions to ask before signing, and when self-preparing is enough.
Read articleR&D Tax Incentive Registration Deadline: Key Dates
Your AusIndustry R&D registration is due 10 months after your income year ends: 30 April for a 30 June balancer. Extensions and late lodgement explained.
Read articleHow to Calculate Your R&D Tax Incentive Rebate in Australia
A step-by-step method for calculating your Australian R&D tax offset: notional deductions, turnover test, offset rates, intensity premium and worked examples.
Read articleClinical Trial R&D Tax Incentive Eligibility Rules
How clinical trials qualify under Division 355: the deemed-core determination, clinical vs technical uncertainty, overseas findings and required evidence.
Read articleUsing GitHub Commits as R&D Tax Incentive Evidence
Can GitHub commit history support an R&D Tax Incentive claim? What AusIndustry and the ATO accept, what commits can't prove, and how to make it defensible.
Read articleR&D Tax Incentive Eligibility Criteria: Software Companies
How Division 355 eligibility works for Australian software companies: the core activity test, technical uncertainty, exclusions, evidence and offset rates.
Read articleHow to Document R&D Activities for AusIndustry
A practical process for documenting R&D activities as they happen, so your AusIndustry core activity descriptions hold up under review.
Read articleThe R&D Tax Incentive, explained end to end: 2026 guide
The complete path through an R&D Tax Incentive claim: who is eligible, what the offset is worth, how activities are defined, what evidence you need, and the registration and lodgement steps that turn eligible work into money in the bank.
Read articleR&D Tax Incentive deadlines: every date that matters
Miss the registration deadline and the claim is gone, no matter how eligible the work was. Here is every date in the R&D Tax Incentive calendar: registration, findings, lodgement, and record retention, plus what to do if a deadline is at risk.
Read articleThe 2026-27 Budget R&D Tax Incentive overhaul explained
The 2026-27 Federal Budget announced the biggest redesign of the R&D Tax Incentive in years, including the end of supporting activity claims from 1 July 2028. Here is what changes, and the moves software founders should make before it lands.
Read articleCore vs supporting R&D activities, and why it now matters more
The distinction between core and supporting R&D activities has always mattered. From 1 July 2028 it becomes decisive, because supporting activities lose eligibility. Here is how to tell them apart and classify your work correctly.
Read articleR&D tax consultant vs software: a cost comparison for startups
Most R&D Tax Incentive consultants charge a percentage of your benefit. Software charges differently. Here is an honest breakdown of the fee models, the trade-offs, and which one suits an early-stage software company.
Read articleATO R&D Tax Incentive reviews: what triggers them, how to be ready
A review is not a disaster if your claim is well-evidenced. Here is what tends to trigger an ATO or AusIndustry review of an R&D Tax Incentive claim, what they ask for, and how to be ready before one lands.
Read articleIs AI and machine learning development eligible for the R&DTI?
AI and machine learning work is a rich source of genuine R&D, and a fast-growing target for ATO scrutiny. Here is how the eligibility test actually applies to AI development, with examples of what qualifies and what does not.
Read articleR&D Tax Incentive for software development: 2026 guide
Software is one of the most-claimed and most-scrutinised areas of the R&D Tax Incentive. This guide maps the four eligibility criteria to real software work, with examples of what qualifies, what does not, and the traps that sink claims.
Read articleContemporaneous evidence for a defensible R&D claim
Eligibility gets you in the door. Evidence keeps you there. This guide covers what contemporaneous records the ATO and AusIndustry expect, the evidence hierarchy that holds up in a review, and the documentation habits that make a claim defensible.
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