New tax relief for research and development

The application of the tax relief related to research and development works carried out in 2016 makes it possible to charge up to 130% of the so-called ‘eligible costs’ to tax deductible expenses, by recognising their actual value as a tax deductible expense and then by applying a deduction from the tax base again from 10% to 30% of these costs.

Entrepreneurs are entitled to a research and development tax relief, i.e. the right to include 100% research and development expenses in tax deductible costs and to deduct them from the income. Importantly, under the R&D relief, the expenses in question can then be deducted up to 100% from the tax base.

If the company has the status of a research and development center (CBR), deductions from the tax base can be up to 250% of expenses.

Therefore the application of the R&D tax relief allows to deduct expenses on research and development activities twice.

The R&D tax relief may be used within 6 years (as long as the depreciation lasts). However, if an entrepreneur starts a business, he can use it in the year of starting the business. In a situation where the entrepreneur has the status of a micro, small or medium-sized entrepreneur, the entire tax relief may be settled in the second tax year.

Real benefits:

The introduced research and development relief allows for the recognition of broadly understood research and development costs as tax deductible costs, because both research and development costs can be classified as tax deductible costs, regardless of their result.

Categories of eligible costs:

Among the categories of eligible costs directly related to R&D activity, the legislator lists:

• employees’ salaries with overhead and remuneration for services resulting from contracts for specific work or orders (from 2018), in the part in which the time allocated to the implementation of R&D remains during the employee's general working time or during the time allocated to the service,
• costs of purchasing materials and raw materials directly related to the conducted research and development activities,
• purchase of non-fixed specialist equipment used directly in the conducted research and development activities, in particular laboratory vessels, utensils and measuring devices,
• expertise, opinions, advisory services and equivalent services, as well as the acquisition of scientific research results, provided or performed under a contract by a scientific unit for the needs of research and development activities,
• paid use of scientific and research equipment used only in research and development activities, if such use does not result from an agreement concluded with an entity related to the taxpayer,
• made in a given tax year, classified as tax deductible costs, depreciation write-offs on fixed assets and intangible assets used in research and development activities, with the exception of passenger cars and structures, buildings and premises owned separately,
• costs of obtaining and maintaining a patent, protection right for a utility model, rights from registration of an industrial design incurred by a taxpayer who is a micro, small, medium-sized entrepreneur within the meaning of the Act on freedom of economic activity (from January 2017).

 How to prepare to take advantage of the relief?

• Separation of expenditure on research and development in the records kept, broken down by individual projects and the nature of expenditure

Settlement of the relief in the annual tax return with the PIT-BR or CIT-BR form attached to it, in which you must list the expenses related to this activity.

The fact that the taxpayer has obtained a subsidy to finance part of the costs of R&D activity does not exclude his right to benefit from the subject of the relief for the remaining part of eligible costs not financed with this subsidy or which have not been reimbursed in any other form.

The complete lack of the right to apply the R&D tax relief applies only to taxpayers operating in special economic zones.

We provide Relief related to research and development works, IP BOX and other services throughout Poland in regional offices in Warsaw, Łódź and Poznań, Opole, Wrocław, Katowice, Lublin, Gdańsk and Zielona Góra.