To be eligible, you need to:

— Be an Australian company.

— Spend at least $20,000 on eligible R&D activities in the year.

Be developing your own products/IP (not just implementing off‑the‑shelf tools) and facing real technical uncertainty.

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You don’t need to be profitable or have revenue to qualify.

We focus on innovation‑heavy sectors where R&DTI is common and the technical story matters:

— SaaS and AI / machine learning

— Fintech, regtech and blockchain

— Healthtech, med‑device and biotech

— Consumer Product Formulation

— Cybersecurity, deep tech, climate tech, advanced manufacturing and defence.

If you’re in a more traditional or services‑only business, we’ll tell you quickly if R&DTI isn’t a good fit.

Yes. Many R&DTI claimants are pre‑revenue or loss‑making, and the refundable offset is designed exactly for that situation. If you’re building a product with genuine experimentation and spending >$20k, you can often claim even before your first sale.

Typical eligible activities include:

— Designing and testing new algorithms, architectures or models.

— Building new or improved products, processes or prototypes where the outcome wasn’t known up front.

— Systematic experiments to overcome technical limits (performance, reliability, scalability, etc.).

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Routine bug‑fixing, basic website builds and standard implementations usually don’t qualify as core R&D.

To be eligible, you need to:

— Be an Australian company.

— Spend at least $20,000 on eligible R&D activities in the year.

Be developing your own products/IP (not just implementing off‑the‑shelf tools) and facing real technical uncertainty.

​

You don’t need to be profitable or have revenue to qualify.

For companies under $20m turnover, the refundable offset can be worth up to 43.5% of eligible R&D spend. For example, $150k of eligible costs might translate to roughly $65k back, depending on your exact circumstances.

We charge 10% of the final R&D offset we help you secure, with a minimum fee of $5,500 per claim. That means:

— If your refund is $60k, our fee is $6k (vs ~$18k at 30%).

— If your refund is $40k, our fee is $5.5k (minimum applies).

Fees are agreed up‑front and only payable if we proceed with and submit your claim and it's successful.

Most people get an estimate in ~2 minutes. Use rough numbers if that’s all you have — you can refine later.

Many R&D consultancies use high success‑fee models (20–30%) that take a large chunk of your refund. Our model is built for startups that can’t afford to lose that much runway; we rely on efficient processes and sector focus to keep fees down while still doing audit‑level work.

For the check, we just need high‑level details:

— What you’re building and why it’s technically challenging.

— Your spend on staff, contractors and other R&D‑related costs.

— Basic company info (ABN, entity type, turnover bracket).

— If we proceed, we’ll then request more detailed financials and technical documentation to support the claim.

If our assessment suggests your activities are marginal or high‑risk under AusIndustry/ATO guidance, we’ll clearly explain why and recommend against claiming. Protecting you from a bad or unsustainable claim is part of the service, not an upsell opportunity.

We build every claim as if AusIndustry or the ATO may review it in future. That means:

Framing your work as hypotheses, experiments and results.

Matching language to software/sector guides.

Capturing evidence (tickets, commits, design docs, lab notes) contemporaneously where possible.

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To date, Granton reports 100% success and 0 audits on client claims, though no one can guarantee you’ll never be reviewed.

Yes, software can absolutely be eligible—but it’s scrutinised heavily. AusIndustry’s guidance is stricter about what counts as experimental vs routine development, and whole‑of‑project claims are a red flag. Our team specialises in positioning software, AI and platform work correctly under the latest guidance so that only genuinely experimental activities are claimed.

If your claim is selected for review, we can assist with responding by:

— Providing the technical explanation and documentation behind the application.

— Helping you understand what the regulator is asking for and why.

Our “audit‑first” approach is designed to make this as straightforward as possible, but like any tax program, final decisions rest with the regulators.

Yes, often. Most generalist accountants focus on tax lodgement and may not specialise in the technical, documentation‑heavy side of R&DTI. We can:

— Handle the AusIndustry registration and technical write‑ups while your accountant handles the company tax return.

— Provide a second‑opinion review of an existing claim to check eligibility and risk.

The initial online check takes around 10 minutes to complete. After that:

​— Eligibility and refund estimate: usually within 1–2 business days.

— Full claim preparation (once you proceed): typically 2–4 weeks, depending on complexity and how quickly you can provide information.

We factor in statutory deadlines so you don’t miss cut‑off dates.

No. This calculator is designed to give you quick clarity without an opt-in.

No. It’s an estimate tool only. Eligibility depends on your specific activities and whether you can substantiate them properly.