Matt Nicolas General Assembly Final Project REFUNDR. Reimagining R&D funding.

Transcription

1 Matt Nicolas General Assembly Final Project REFUNDR Reimagining R&D funding

2 W H A T I S T H E R & D T A X I N C E N T I V E? 0 2 The R&D Tax Incentive is the largest component of Australian government support for innovation. Rewards innovative companies a 43.5% refund for every dollar spent on eligible R&D activities. It is a self-assessment programme. Four pillars of eligibility: 1. Eligible entity: Pty Ltd or Limited. 2. Eligible activities: Core and/or supporting R&D activities. 3. Eligible expenses: must spend >$20,000 in any given fin year. Labour costs associated with R&D activities are usually the key drivers of expenditure. 4. Record keeping: evidence of research, experiments/testing. Image sources: worldvectorlogo.com/logo/ausindustry; ato.gov.au; and pixabay.com/p

3 W H A T I S T H E M A R K E T S I Z E? 0 3

4 T H E P R O B L E M? 0 4 Complex tax rules. Ambiguous R&D activity definitions. Strong record keeping requirements not in line with agile methodology. Huge cost of non-compliance: pay back the cash + penalties between 25% and 75%. The problem with outsourcing the work to a consultant? 1. The process is manual - little to no automation. 2. The process lacks transparency - all based. 3. The process is time-consuming - retrospective. 4. Consultants rarely add value and seldom work strategically with their clients.

5 T H E P R O P O S E D S O L U T I O N? 0 5 Overarching Business Goal of the Product To access the R&D tax refund in a simple, frictionless, transparent, compliant and time efficient way. To empower innovative companies to access the R&D refund with confidence and ease. Hypothesis Through development of an integrated and (semi)automated SaaS, current and new applicants of the R&D tax incentive will prefer to iteratively complete the R&D tax incentive application process throughout the course of the financial year. Risks / Assumptions 1. Assuming that the traditional claim process is broken. 2. Assuming that users will use the software. 3. Assuming that government will embrace the technology solution. 4. Assuming the benefits will outweigh the costs of implementation.

6 U S E R I N T E R V I E W S - K E Y T A K E A W A Y S user interviewers across 4 personas. The upshot? This is something that needs to be ongoing... I need to stick information somewhere rather than spending time organising, to instead have it one place. Would prefer to do it on an ongoing basis, rather than doing so retrospectively. - Ruth Cole, Product Manager. The time and effort marshalling my developers to provide information into a form [the R&D consultant] wants is a minor headache. - Jordan Wainer, Founder. What can be done to improve? Nothing. Maybe simplify the questions. - Anthony Turco, CTO. The dilemma is being ready for audit at any time... it comes at a high cost. - Mac Christopherson, CFO/Director.

7 O K R S, K P I S A N D T H E M E S 0 7 Objectives Key Results Theme 1. Provide and/or integrate tools to enable ongoing record keeping. Achieve an increase of ongoing interaction by 90% throughout the financial year as opposed to after the end of the financial year. Enable, simplify and streamline compliant contemporaneous record keeping. 2. Reduce ambiguity of R&D eligibility requirements. Achieve a reduction of verbal/ eligibility queries by 30%. Provide clarity and certainty around eligibility requirements. 3. Increase transparency between all contributing parties. Achieve a 35% reduction in s/phone calls requesting status updates on the claim. Increase transparency between all contributing parties.

8 M V P & P R I O R I T I S A T I O N 0 8 Rank Feature Theme MVP? Weekly reporting/ reminder Report generation Timesheet module/system integration Accounting system integration User login/portal User dashboard Document upload Secure storage Collaboration module/tool integration AusIndustry smartform integration Requirements chatbot ATO tax agent portal integration Record keeping Record keeping Record keeping Clear eligibility req. Record keeping Clear eligibility req.

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10 1 0 THANK YOU! Questions? W W W. R E F U N D R. I O M R M A T T N I C O L A G M A I L. C O M 6 2 N E W M A N S T R E E T, N E W T O W N N S W