Jun 05, 2025
Documents required to apply for Forschungszulage (Research Allowance)
Forschungszulage (Research Allowance) is the financial aid in the form of tax credit or cash refund given to the companies with eligible Research and Development projects. The Research Allowance Act was introduced in the year 2020 with the aim to promote innovation and give opportunities to companies across sectors to receive financial support for their R&D projects.The application process to apply for the Research Allowance is classified into two stages,Application to receive a BSFZ certificate, which states whether the project meets eligibility criteria to receive the allowanceApplication to the tax office, where the project receives financial aid from the government in the form of tax deduction or cash refund.Application for BSFZ certificateThe first step to complete for obtaining the Research Allowance is to acquire the BSFZ certificate which certifies that the project falls under the category of R&D and is eligible to receive monetary benefits.Documents required to apply for BSFZ certificateThe BSFZ application needs the applicant to produce the following,1. Detailed project description:It is mandatory to describe the projects, including all the information and the points indicating the project is from the R&D category. The project description should include,Objectives of the particular R&D projectMethodology employedUncertainty in the results or scientific challenges in the outcomeNewness in the expected result of the project2. Details of the organisation:It is required to submit all the necessary information about the organisation in the application and it involves:Legal name and official registration number of the organisationOfficial Tax IDManagement or ownership structureDetails of the line of business3. Details of timelines:The information regarding the actual timelines for the completed projects and scheduled timelines for the ongoing ones needs to be given in the project description for obtaining the BSFZ certificate. The timelines consist of,Start and end datesStages of the project and milestones achieved4. Details of human resources:The BSFZ needs the information about the number of people involved in the projects, the hours or time they've worked for the project, and the remuneration. The information should be given about,Total number of human resources and their rolesCost incurredDetails of work packages or tasks and any other equipment or infrastructure involved in the project5. Details of collaboration or contract (if any):If the R&D project is done along with another institution or if it is outsourced to another organisation under a contract, every detail regarding that needs to be presented in project details while applying for the BSFZ certificate. This is one of the key factors against which the eligibility of the project will be measured. The details involve,Name of the partners and the roles they handled in the project (e.g., research institutions, academic institutions or universities)Full information of the legal agreements and contract details to validate the eligibility6. Details of other funding (if any):The applicant must provide the details if any part of the project received funding previously, especially if from the European Union, similar to the Research Allowance. In this instance, subsidizing the same costs twice is not allowed.Note: The application with all the required information is to be submitted to the BSFZ portal online. The ELSTER certificate is needed to proceed with this application to receive the BSFZ certificate stating the eligibility of the project for the Research Allowance.Application to the Tax OfficeAfter obtaining the BSFZ certificate, the applicant needs to file an application with the tax office in order to acquire the research allowance. This application process is online and is done via ELSTER.Documents required for the application to the tax office1. Details of the company:It is required to clearly mention all the information about the company including Tax ID, details of representatives, legal form of business and headquarters.2. Details of project:This includes,BSFZ certificate numberProject titleID as issued by BSFZ3. Details of expenses:The clear and authentic information regarding the expenses incurred for the particular R&D project should be given on the basis of given elements,Human Resources expenses such as salaries or wagesDepreciation on movable fixed assets which are used for the purpose of the research projectDetails of contract research, if any, and applicant should note that only the 70% value of outsourced contract research is eligible to be considered for the research allowance4.Timesheets:The documents that show the accurate number of hours logged per person should be presented for the Research Allowance application with the tax office. The document should be GoBD compliant and it is used to verify personnel efforts for the particular project.5. Information of other funding received (if any):Any other funding received from the state or EU for the same expenses incurred should be avoided to prevent double fundingWhy rigorous documentation matters?Rigorous application is the foundation of successful Forschungszulage (Research Allowance) application in Germany. The application for the BSFZ certificate and tax office gives deep value to the clarity of information submitted, transparency, consistency and traceability of the projects' expenses related documents.1.Validation of R&D eligibility:The BSFZ certificate will be issued to those projects which match the eligibility criteria as per German definitions and EU. These are not vague statements and the project should meet the absolute criteria containingNewness (Innovation and novelty)Technical uncertainty in expected outcomesSystematic methodologiesNote: When the project fails to show its technical uncertainty in results and risk, there is a high chance that a BSFZ certificate might be denied even for an excellent research project.2. Financial validation:Once the BSFZ certificate is granted, in the second step, the tax office will verify all financial aspects of the application including,Records of payrollTimesheetsDepreciation schedulesContract research3. Restraining delays and rejection:Ambiguous documentation may cause problems such as,Delays in acquiring the BSFZ certificate or approval from the tax officeRejection of applicationA lower amount of funding received due to only partial expenses could be validated. 4. Legal obligation:Applicants mandatorily affirm that all submitted information is correct, accurate, possess documents that support the claim and no other funding has been received for the exact expenses previously.5. Consistency of information:Since the application for Research Allowance is mainly done through online portals like BSFZ and ELSTER, it is crucial to maintain uniformity of project details across all these platforms to avoid any discrepancies.