Application for research allowance to be simplified by draft law

“Until now, all affiliated companies in Germany and abroad had to be listed. As a result, the application process has sometimes been very time-consuming; in the case of corporate groups and financial investment companies of startups, more than 20 companies had to be named in some cases – for a single application,” says Anne Baumgärtel, Team Lead Germany at ARTTIC Innovation: “This government draft does away with such hurdles and simplifies the applications.”

The GrStRefUG deals, among other things, with so-called affiliated companies. In cases of affiliated companies, the research allowance will now generally accrue to the entities where the expenses for the eligible projects were incurred. According to the government draft of the GrStRefUG, the term affiliated companies in the FZulG will no longer refer to the German Stock Corporation Act (Aktiengesetz), but to the controlling influence between companies based on the German Commercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch). Each company will submit a separate application for its expenses for the eligible projects. Thus, the controlled companies receive the research allowance whose employees had personnel expenses in the project projects, and not the financial holding company or similar – regardless of profit transfer agreements and joint assessment. The tax office must check which companies are involved before submitting the application. The responsibility of the respective tax office is also affected by the bill.

Baumgärtel: “The Research Allowance Act is a big step in the right direction, and in Germany it is now possible to do what has long been taking place in other EU countries. Tax legislation must support these goals.”

Also easy to read and intended as a brief introduction to the tax aspects of the grant application is ARTTIC’s free fact sheet, available at www.arttic-innovation.eu.