Progress Report form must be submitted to the DSI on all approved R&D projects, via the following email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. This form must only be used for projects whose application(s) had been submitted to the DSI using the RD2 Application form. Progress reports for projects that have been approved through the R&D Tax Incentive Online will require the applicant to login into the system and complete the Progress Report form which only becomes active after the project has been approved.
To make this task easier, applicants must keep specific records of R&D activities and expenditure that they can use to enable progress reporting and use when required for purposes of claiming the tax deduction. The following are examples of records to maintain:
- The R&D plan, which stipulates the activity milestones and resources used on the project. The R&D plan should be a living document that is updated as major changes occur and that should be used to inform the DSI of the changes introduced.
- Records of any preliminary research, including literature and patent searches, feasibility studies, options papers and a risk management analysis.
- Personnel timesheets and other time-recording data, clearly showing the time apportionment where production personnel were used in R&D.
- Records of experiments, indicating the aim of the experiment, how and when it was conducted, as well as the outcome. The records should ideally state the aim of the experiment, how and when it was conducted, as well as the outcome. Where use was made of the production line for R&D, it is important to define the period of use for R&D purposes.
- Personnel time sheets, to confirm that the expenditure portion is directly related to R&D.
Other than assisting companies to comply with requirements for claiming the deduction, the records of R&D activities and expenditure can assist government in tracking the impact of the incentive. It is a requirement of the legislation that the Minister of Science and Technology tables a report in Parliament on the performance of the incentive on a yearly basis.