The Forschungszulage (FZul) has been in place since 1 January 2020 to assist German organisations with their research and development activities. SMEs and large enterprises in Germany can apply for subsidy (tax credit) and receive a reimbursement for the hours their R&D researchers spent on research and development activities.

The benefit will be calculated via the gross amount of the salaries including the employers’ contribution. Up to 10 million euros of a company’s project costs are eligible for a tax benefit. The subsidy is 35% of the total wage costs, resulting in a maximum subsidy of € 3.500.000,- per fiscal year.

Applying for Forschungszulage

An application starts with applying for a deposition. It’s important to test your project(s) on whether they’re innovative and the amount of risks involved. It’s therefore required to hand over a technical description of the project in which the activities and expected results are explained. Fundamental, industrial and experimental research are all admissible. Does your project meet the requirements? You’ll then receive the deposition which you have the hand over again when applying for the reimbursement.

Afterwards at an audit you’ll have to be able to verify what has been done, by who and how many hours were spent on the activities. Therefore, be sure to keep track of the project and hours administration throughout the project.

At the end of the fiscal year, in which the R&D activities were carried out and for which you’ve received the deposition, you submit an application in which you declare and corroborate the reimbursement. After this has been allotted the reimbursement can be deducted from the company tax.

Requirements FZul

• The subsidy will be available for the upcoming four years with no maximum budget;
• Joint companies share the cap of € 4 million;
• Besides applications for innate projects, contract research is also eligible;
• Exclusively hours by employees within R&D activities are taken into consideration;
• Activities/hours that have already been included in another subsidy are not eligible;
• You’re able to claim more subsidy than the amount of paid corporate tax.

Optimal support with R&D grants by Hezelburcht

Since 1995 Hezelburcht has been offering optimal support to organisations in (and outside of) the Netherlands with comparable grants, such as WBSO. This resulted in an amazing track record with thousands of organisations receiving subsidies. Our specialists are able to understand you and your organisation as well as your way of doing things. Because of that we’re able to translate the innovative character of your R&D activities into a strong application. Would you like to learn more about our services or the Forschungszulagengesetz? Get in touch via 088 495 20 00 or info@hezelburcht.com.