If flagged as At-risk, AusIndustry will notify the areas they are concerned about and advise you that you will be reassessed in 12 months. This gives you time to review your records and processes to improve them before they come back for the Audit.
But don’t worry, it’s all about how you document your work. The Government provides specific “guidance” on what documents they want to be provided as evidence of the R&D work you are undertaking.
You need to cover the following areas to the right level of detail:
- Product strategy with project roadmap and new knowledge assessed
- R&D project documentation with project hypothesis explained
- R&D project eligibility proof for core R&D activity documentation
- R&D project timelines, plans and budgets that have been monitored
- R&D work records that track time and materials as core and supporting
- Experiment plans to prove hypothesis documented*
- Experiments conducted and evidence recorded with the results evaluated/reported*
- Minutes of meetings to formally evaluate results, correct, and iterate on the hypothesis
The areas marked with an asterisk* need to use scientific language to describe your hypothesis, experiments conducted to test the hypothesis and capture the new knowledge you produce.
What is the right level of detail?
You will need a way to ensure you capture enough evidence without going overboard. The best way to do this is to have a set of templates used for all R&D projects and checklists to make sure you don’t miss any, leaving holes that may be discovered in an Audit.
Using templates is the path of least resistance.
We can assist with making sure you can pass and Audit and resolve your At-Risk issues! Find out our R&D Tax Incentive Audit Preparation & Assistance Services:
- Rapid Response RFI Review Service: we will review your documentation of compliance, provide templates to ensure your language and structure are correct and assist with answering the questions from AusIndustry or the ATO.
- Comprehensive Audit Preparation: we offer assistance to make sure this is done quickly, correctly and comprehensively to ensure you avoid a failed audit review.
- Find out more.
If you are not sure what help you should get, book a 10-minute consultation to discuss your specific situation.