Important:
- To claim the R&D tax credit, you must submit a detailed statement online.
- In most instances, the last date for submitting a detailed statement was April 30 2010. Find out more
Management studies or efficiency surveys
Excluded activities
Management studies and efficiency surveys are excluded from being systematic, investigative and experimental (SIE) activities for the R&D tax credit.
Management studies and efficiency surveys include:
- studies of energy efficiency
- time and motion studies
- analysis of productivity
Even without this exclusion, many management studies would be ineligible because their subject area is the social sciences.
Example - management study
A horticulturalist has diversified into a stone fruit orchard. After manually harvesting, grading and packing the first crops, she now wishes to build a commercial grading and packing shed.
She finds an alternative layout used overseas, which saves on the labour required in grading and packing other stone fruit varieties, and designs some SIE activities to see if the alternative layout would be a more efficient way of organising the packing activity.
Such research would not be eligible for the tax credit because it is a management study.
Note: Examples are simplified. You should check the detailed R&D information and/or consult a professional advisor.
New tools
Eligible R&D might occur if a new tool, for example for the analysis of energy efficiency, was being developed for use in a management study or efficiency study.
Can these activities be support activities?
Where eligible R&D activities are taking place, time and motion studies or other established methods of analysing or improving efficiency may be eligible as supporting activity.
The testing or analysis must be all of the following:
- wholly or mainly for the purpose of the SIE activities
- required for the SIE activities
- integral to the SIE activities.
New Zealand legislation
Income Tax Act 2007
- schedule 21 part C, clause 9
- LH 7(1)(b)
- LH 7(2)(b)
Date published: 30 Sep 2008
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