How we help you claim the R&D Tax Incentive
Our team of specialists understand the Australian tax incentive system and have extensive experience in successfully preparing applications and obtaining R&D benefits for clients. The Research and Development (R&D) Tax Incentive is a major driver of innovation in Australia, but many companies find accessing tax incentives difficult and time consuming.
Avant Group supports businesses across the full R&D Tax Incentive lifecycle. Our services include:
Avant Group features one of the largest R&D Tax Incentive advisory practices in Australia and we never charge for ATO or Department of Innovation, Science and Research (DISR) audits on claims we prepare, saving businesses thousands of dollars.
Our team brings together expertise spanning legal, tax, accounting and bookkeeping, alongside deep technical capability across science and engineering. This integrated skillset enables us to navigate complex regulatory, financial and technical advice on complex R&D claims.
We review your projects alongside your technical team and assess whether they are novel, generate new knowledge, not routine in nature and have technical uncertainty. This is also supported by a formal technical investigation report which we provide you with. If required, we also prepare and submit Advanced Finding applications to support your claim from the outset.
We support your R&D projects to be audit-ready and aligned with regulatory standards through ongoing reviews of activities and expenditure – helping you stay prepared at every stage of the project lifecycle.
You’ll receive ongoing feedback and practical recommendations to strengthen compliance. In the event of an audit, our team provides full support - at no additional cost.
We help you maintain clear, compliant, and audit-ready R&D records through structured templates, tracking tools, technical documentation, timekeeping systems, and expenditure registers. We also prepare end-of-year reviews and claim-ready evidence packs to support reporting, governance, and R&D Tax Incentive claims.
For complex and large-scale projects, via For complex and large-scale projects, via Avant Research, we can also provide end-to-end management of your R&D projects, from initial review and onsite inspections to annual compliance checks and claim preparation.
Our experienced team brings deep technical expertise across science, engineering, software, and manufacturing to ensure your projects are well-managed, documented, and ready for lodgement.
We act decisively on your behalf in ATO and DISR R&D audits and reviews, managing the process end-to-end to protect your claim. This includes audit readiness reviews, evidence strategy, technical and financial substantiation, regulator engagement, and response management through to resolution. Our focus is on clearly defending eligibility, demonstrating technical uncertainty and risk, and minimising adjustment, disruption, and exposure.
Manager (R&D)
Manager (R&D/Competitive Grants)
Founder & Managing Director
R&D Project Associate
Grants Associate
The R&D Tax Incentive is governed by complex legislation administered jointly by the ATO and DISR. Inadequately supported or noncompliant claims may result in repayment of benefits and penalties, with potentially significant financial exposure. Ongoing legislative change also requires careful management to maintain eligibility and compliance.
While many accounting firms support the financial and tax aspects of a claim, the program also requires specialist technical assessment to determine project eligibility and substantiate R&D activities.
Accountants and CPAs are not typically trained to assess technical risk, formulate R&D hypotheses, or prepare the scientific and engineering evidence required to support eligibility - particularly in the context of regulatory review or audit. Assessing R&D eligibility and maintaining compliance across the full project lifecycle is a specialist capability. As a result, accounting practices across Australia partner with Avant Group and refer clients to us for independent technical assessment, documentation, and R&D Tax Incentive claim support.
The R&D Tax Incentive can be submitted without advisory support, however this is highly discouraged. Compliance errors are common in R&D Tax Incentive claims, which can lead to businesses being forced to pay serious financial penalties if found to be non-compliant. Typical compliance errors when conducting R&D include not describing an eligible experiment, providing an insufficient hypothesis, or supplying a claim with inappropriate technical detail i.e. too much, too little or too confusing.
The above typical errors can render a claim at a potential high risk of noncompliance with R&D law, resulting in a high risk for the claim if an audit takes place.
For a project to be eligible for the R&D Tax Incentive it must carry both technical and financial risk for an organisation, be undertaken for the purpose of generating new knowledge and have an unknown outcome. A company must also apply a scientific methodology to a project and structure its documents and supporting evidence accordingly.
Avant Group also offers obligation-free R&D Tax Incentive project assessments, which you can book here.
