Australia: Your responsibility

An adviser can prepare the registration application, write the activity descriptions and prepare the return. None of that moves the claim out of the company's name. The company registers its activities with the Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR) and claims the offset in its own return. The department says plainly that the company is responsible for making sure the activities it registers are eligible.1Source 1Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Assuring integrity in the R&D Tax Incentive (business.gov.au): "you are responsible for making sure the R&D activities you register are eligible". The questions on who signs the claim and can we see the full claim before filing? are about making that responsibility real. The people who did the work read the activity descriptions before they are registered, and the company keeps a copy of what was lodged.

• Registering. The deadline to apply for registration is 10 months after the end of the income year, with extensions by request. Before the deadline any change can be made to an application. After it, a registration can only be varied to remove all or part of an activity, to change when an activity occurred, to reclassify an activity or to make minor amendments.2Source 2Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Apply for the R&D Tax Incentive and Request an extension or variation on your R&D Tax Incentive application (business.gov.au). A claim for an earlier year is usually not open at all, so test any offer to claim for past years against this date (cold calls about unclaimed refunds).
• DISR findings. The department can make findings about a registration, including that all or part of a registered activity was not a core or supporting R&D activity. Findings are legally binding, can include activities from the current and previous income years, and bind the ATO for the income year if made within four years after the end of that year.3Source 3Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Decisions we make about R&D Tax Incentive applications (business.gov.au): "Findings are legally binding"; "you must amend your tax return. Penalties and interest charges may be applied"; Industry Research and Development Act 1986 section 27J (Compilation No. 34, 21 February 2025); Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 section 355-705(1) (Compilation No. 267, 27 August 2026). The ATO says a finding binds it and is given immediate effect.4Source 4Australian Taxation Office, Research and development tax incentive: correcting mistakes and disputing decisions (13 May 2026).
• The ATO's amendment period. For a company with an R&D claim, the ATO says the period for amending an assessment is generally four years. A two year period is possible for assessments for the 2021 to 2022 income year or earlier.4Source 4Australian Taxation Office, Research and development tax incentive: correcting mistakes and disputing decisions (13 May 2026). For small and medium business entities generally, the ATO's amendment page gives two years for the 2023 to 2024 and earlier income years. It gives four years for the 2024 to 2025 and later income years. Other taxpayers have four years.5Source 5Australian Taxation Office, Request an amendment to a business or super tax return (21 May 2025); Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 section 170(1) (Compilation No. 192, 1 July 2026), items 2, 4, 5 and 6. The ATO may amend at any time for fraud or evasion, and at any time to give effect to a review, appeal or objection.5Source 5Australian Taxation Office, Request an amendment to a business or super tax return (21 May 2025); Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 section 170(1) (Compilation No. 192, 1 July 2026), items 2, 4, 5 and 6. A claim can therefore be looked at well after the offset has been received, which is why review support in the engagement letter matters (is review support included?).

If a finding or a review reduces a claim already paid on ineligible activities, the company must amend its tax return with the ATO. The department says that penalties and interest charges may be applied.3Source 3Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Decisions we make about R&D Tax Incentive applications (business.gov.au): "Findings are legally binding"; "you must amend your tax return. Penalties and interest charges may be applied"; Industry Research and Development Act 1986 section 27J (Compilation No. 34, 21 February 2025); Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 section 355-705(1) (Compilation No. 267, 27 August 2026). The ATO describes a safe harbour from certain administrative penalties. A company is not liable to those penalties for a false or misleading statement made by its registered tax agent, where two things hold. The company gave the agent all the relevant information, and the statement resulted from the agent's lack of reasonable care. The safe harbour does not apply to penalties that arise from recklessness or intentional disregard of the law, or to other administrative penalties, including those for tax avoidance schemes. It applies to statements made from 1 March 2010.6Source 6Australian Taxation Office, Safe harbour (3 September 2026). It covers the penalty only: the tax and any interest stay with the company. Keep a record of what you gave the adviser and when, because that is what the safe harbour turns on. Take advice before you answer the ATO about a penalty or rely on the safe harbour. Whether the adviser's fee comes down too depends on the engagement letter, not on the ATO: see what happens to the fee if the claim is reduced?

Registered tax agents are bound by the Code of Professional Conduct under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009, with sanctions for breach.7Source 7Tax Agent Services Act 2009, sections 30-5, 30-10 and 30-15 (Compilation No. 27, 1 October 2026). Those sanctions are the agent's; they do not pay the company's tax, interest or penalty, and the engagement letter's liability and indemnity clause is where any contribution from the adviser would be found.

Before the registration deadline, any change can be made to the application; after it, the variation route only removes or narrows activities.2Source 2Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Apply for the R&D Tax Incentive and Request an extension or variation on your R&D Tax Incentive application (business.gov.au). If a finding removes activities you have already claimed, you must amend your tax return with the ATO.3Source 3Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Decisions we make about R&D Tax Incentive applications (business.gov.au): "Findings are legally binding"; "you must amend your tax return. Penalties and interest charges may be applied"; Industry Research and Development Act 1986 section 27J (Compilation No. 34, 21 February 2025); Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 section 355-705(1) (Compilation No. 267, 27 August 2026). In outline, an R&D claim is amended by lodging an amended R&D tax incentive schedule for the year with a request to the ATO. A registered tax agent can make the request for you, and there is no fee.4Source 4Australian Taxation Office, Research and development tax incentive: correcting mistakes and disputing decisions (13 May 2026). 5Source 5Australian Taxation Office, Request an amendment to a business or super tax return (21 May 2025); Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 section 170(1) (Compilation No. 192, 1 July 2026), items 2, 4, 5 and 6. Where a finding removes part of a claim, the ATO says it recommends that the company amends its own return. The ATO says it waits 28 days before starting an audit.4Source 4Australian Taxation Office, Research and development tax incentive: correcting mistakes and disputing decisions (13 May 2026). Take advice before you vary a registration or amend a return: the correcting a claim page sets out what to settle first, including what the engagement letter says about the fee on the corrected amount.

If the department or the ATO reviews the registration or the claim within the time limits above, it can ask for the evidence behind it. Keep the registration and the return as lodged, the activity descriptions, the expenditure workings, the project and time records they rest on, and the engagement letter. Ask for anything the adviser holds that you do not (ownership of records and work).

• If your claim is reviewed and complaints about an adviser in Australia
• Claim reduced on review and if you are charged a penalty
• The true cost of a claim

Sources

1. Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Assuring integrity in the R&D Tax Incentive (business.gov.au): "you are responsible for making sure the R&D activities you register are eligible".  Back
2. Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Apply for the R&D Tax Incentive and Request an extension or variation on your R&D Tax Incentive application (business.gov.au).   Back
3. Department of Industry, Science and Resources, Decisions we make about R&D Tax Incentive applications (business.gov.au): "Findings are legally binding"; "you must amend your tax return. Penalties and interest charges may be applied"; Industry Research and Development Act 1986 section 27J (Compilation No. 34, 21 February 2025); Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 section 355-705(1) (Compilation No. 267, 27 August 2026).    Back
4. Australian Taxation Office, Research and development tax incentive: correcting mistakes and disputing decisions (13 May 2026).     Back
5. Australian Taxation Office, Request an amendment to a business or super tax return (21 May 2025); Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 section 170(1) (Compilation No. 192, 1 July 2026), items 2, 4, 5 and 6.    Back
6. Australian Taxation Office, Safe harbour (3 September 2026).  Back
7. Tax Agent Services Act 2009, sections 30-5, 30-10 and 30-15 (Compilation No. 27, 1 October 2026).  Back