Every R&D Tax Incentive claim has two halves and two regulators. Your accountant is central to one of them whichever way you go.
The two halves of a claim
The registration goes to the department (AusIndustry) within 10 months of the year end. It describes each core and supporting activity: the uncertainty, the hypothesis, the experiments and what was learned. It is a technical document, and the ATO itself says it cannot help with questions about registration or the eligibility of activities.
The claim goes to the ATO. The company completes the R&D tax incentive schedule and the relevant labels of its company tax return, and must quote that year's registration number on the schedule. This is accountant territory: the ATO's own first checks are whether the company is an R&D entity, whether it registered, and whether its notional deductions are at least $20,000 (below that, only amounts paid to a registered research service provider that is not an associate, and Cooperative Research Centre contributions, earn an offset). Then comes aggregated turnover, which counts connected entities (control generally starts at 40%, with statutory exceptions) and affiliates, Australian and foreign, and decides whether the offset is refundable.
How the handoff works with Rand
Rand works on the first half and stops at the boundary:
- AI drafts the registration from your GitHub, Jira, Linear and Notion records and Xero payroll.
- Your team reviews it and an Expert Reviewer finalises it.
- Your company declares and submits it, and receives the registration number.
- Rand delivers your company a handoff letter for your accountant, with the submitted R&D expenditure and its breakdown and the submission and registration details, together with AusIndustry's confirmation.
- Your accountant applies the tax law, confirms what is claimed, and prepares the schedule and return.
Rand is not a tax agent and does not prepare the schedule or the return.
When your accountant alone is enough
Plenty of companies need no one else. Four signs:
- Your accountant prepares R&D registrations every year, not occasionally.
- You have one or two clearly bounded core activities, not a portfolio.
- Your records are already organised by activity, with hypotheses and results written down at the time.
- The claim is small enough that a second set of fees takes a large share of the benefit.
If all four hold, keep it with your accountant.
Questions to ask your accountant first
- How many R&D registrations did you prepare last year, and in which sectors?
- Who reads the activity descriptions for technical accuracy before we declare them?
- Will you collect evidence during the year, or only after it ends?
- If the department examines the registration, who answers the statement of issues, and how is that charged?
Their answers tell you whether to leave the registration with them or bring in a specialist for that half. If they write registrations rarely, or your evidence is scattered across engineering tools, a specialist on the registration can be worth its cost: compare the fee in dollars with the hours and risk it removes under the engagement you are offered. The general trade-off is set out in specialist adviser vs generalist accountant, and accountants who want tools of their own can see R&D tax software for accountants.