New Zealand R&D Tax Incentive

New Zealand R&D Tax Incentive is New Zealand's statutory 15% R&D tax credit, administered by Inland Revenue with MBIE support rather than a competitive grant panel. It applies to businesses carrying out eligible R&D in New Zealand, and the record notes that customer-facing support moved from Callaghan Innovation to MBIE. The minimum eligible spend and annual cap make it relevant both to established performers and to startups with real laboratory or engineering cost bases. Eligible spend must sit between NZD 50,000 and NZD 120 million a year, and the credit is claimed through myIR after General Approval or Criteria and Methodologies approval. Businesses file a supplementary return with the income tax return, and loss-making companies can receive partial refundability subject to the rules. The incentive is continuous and tied to the income year, so it functions as a rolling tax claim rather than a competition. The route suits NZ-based for-profit companies that can document work aimed at resolving scientific or technological uncertainty through a systematic approach. Its practical test is whether the R&D records are clean enough to support the claim and keep the same expenditure from being counted twice. Companies that can maintain that discipline have the clearest path to turning eligible R&D spend into a 15% credit.

Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.