Apply for an overseas finding from the R&D Tax Incentive

An overseas finding is a legally binding decision made by the Department of Industry, Science and Resources (the department) on whether the R&D activities you conduct outside Australia are eligible for the R&DTI program.

You must have a positive overseas finding if you want to claim expenditure on activities conducted outside Australia. Once you have a positive overseas finding in place, you will still need to show that the expenditure on these activities is eligible when you claim the tax offset with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

The activities you conduct outside Australia must meet 4 conditions to be eligible overseas activities.

The overseas activity must meet the R&DTI’s requirements for being either a core R&D activity or a supporting R&D activity.

Your overseas finding application needs to show that:

• there is at least one core R&D activity conducted, or to be conducted, solely in Australia (the Australian core activity); and
• you cannot complete the Australian core activity without conducting the overseas R&D activity.

You must show that the overseas activity cannot be conducted solely in Australia. There are 4 allowable reasons for this:

• conducting the activity requires access to a facility, expertise or equipment not available in Australia
• conducting the activity would contravene the Biosecurity Act 2015 or a law relating to quarantine
• conducting the activity requires access to a population (of living things) not available in Australia
• conducting the activity requires access to geographical or geological features not available in Australia.

Your overseas finding application must provide evidence that shows you made reasonable efforts to obtain or gain access to the required resource within Australia. Examples of evidence may include:

• advertising or recruitment campaigns undertaken
• expert statements or opinions, along with the experts’ qualifications
• independent advice from research or industry organisations
• communications from suppliers outlining limitations, or lack of availability or suitability.

Financial reasons are insufficient for an overseas activity to meet this condition.

Your overseas finding application needs to show the total actual and projected expenditure of related Australian and overseas activities. The total cost of the overseas activities must be less than the related Australian activities.

For more information on the expenditure conditions, refer to the department’s advance and overseas finding application notes.

When you apply for an overseas finding, the department assesses whether the activities described in your application meet the 4 conditions for eligible overseas activities.

There are 2 possible findings we can make about an overseas activity:

• the activity meets all conditions and is eligible
• the activity fails to meet at least one condition and is ineligible.

After assessing your overseas activities, the department will provide you with a notice that includes a finding certificate. This certificate contains a unique number and specifies which activities have been found to be eligible and ineligible. We are required to provide a copy of this notice to the ATO.

In some circumstances we may refuse to make a finding about an activity. In such cases your notice will explain why. Part 4 of the Industry Research and Development Decision-making Principles 2022 lists the circumstances for refusing to make a finding.

A positive overseas finding is not a registration of your R&D activities. If you receive a positive overseas finding you must still apply to register your R&D activities for the R&DTI with the department.

If you receive a positive overseas finding before you apply for the R&DTI, you should include the certificate number in your application.

You also need to reference your positive overseas finding when claiming the R&D tax offset with the ATO.

Overseas findings last for the duration of the overseas R&D activities that they cover.

However, if the activity has materially changed over time and no longer matches the description in the certificate, the overseas finding is not valid. In such cases you must apply for a new overseas finding.

Applications for overseas findings must be submitted using the advance and overseas findings application form available through the R&DTI customer portal.

You must submit your overseas finding application before the end of the income year in which you conduct, or plan to conduct, your overseas R&D activities. The department cannot accept late applications or grant extensions of time for overseas findings under any circumstances.

As part of the overseas finding process, we may ask for information about the overseas and Australian R&D activities that we are assessing. It is important that you submit a complete application along with all supporting documents through the customer portal.

The department provides guidance to help you understand the application questions and what supporting material you can provide.

The average processing time for an overseas finding is 90 days. 

Processing times can vary for a range of reasons including:

• the time of year the application is received (we recommend lodging as early in your financial year as possible)
• whether the application has been submitted with all supporting documents
• how quickly we receive responses to requests for more information.