Research and Development Tax Incentive (RDTI)

RDTI — 26 Income Year

Provides New Zealand firms tax-credit support for innovation projects through national policy.

The Research and Development Tax Incentive (RDTI) is a statutory 15% tax credit administered jointly by Inland Revenue (IRD) and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) for businesses conducting qualifying R&D in New Zealand. The credit applies to eligible R&D expenditure above a minimum threshold of NZD $50,000 per income year, up to a maximum of NZD $120,000,000 per income year. Qualifying R&D activities must seek to resolve scientific or technological uncertainty through a systematic approach; activities that do not involve genuine uncertainty resolution are ineligible. The 2025/26 entry covers the income year running 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 for standard balance date filers.

To claim the credit for the 2025/26 income year, a business must obtain General Approval (GA) of its R&D activities from Inland Revenue by 30 June 2026 (standard balance date of 31 March). Non-standard balance dates have proportionately adjusted GA deadlines. The Criteria and Methodologies (CAM) route, designed for established larger R&D performers, had its 2025/26 standard deadline on 30 September 2025 — now past for standard balance date filers. Once GA is granted, the business files an R&D supplementary return alongside its income tax return; the supplementary return is due within 30 days after the income tax return due date. Applications and registrations are managed through the myIR portal.

The RDTI is not a competitive grant — there is no pool to exhaust and no scoring panel. The 15% credit rate is a statutory entitlement for all eligible businesses meeting the expenditure and activity tests, including for-profit companies, nonprofits, universities, and research organizations. Loss-making businesses may access partial refundability of credits subject to wage intensity caps and corporate rules, making the RDTI accessible even to pre-revenue R&D-intensive companies. Engaging contractors or approved research providers affects both the eligible expenditure calculation and overall eligibility status, so applicants structuring R&D through third parties should confirm those arrangements satisfy IRD's rules before claiming.