Income-based tax support for R&D and Innovation

The OECD R&D Tax Incentives database has been extended in scope in November 2024 to additionally include one indicator (IPTAX) on income-based tax support for R&D and innovation provided at central and/or subnational government level across OECD member countries and fourteen non-member economies (Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Hong Kong (China), India, Malta, People's Republic of China, Peru, Romania, Singapore, South Africa and Thailand). Income-based tax incentives provide relief in form of a reduced tax rate or tax exemption on revenues connected with outputs of the innovation activity of the firm. They comprise two broad categories of incentives: (i) intellectual property (IP) regimes that provide relief to the income derived from certain eligible IP assets (e.g. patent boxes), which can be related to the innovation activity of the firm, and (ii) dual category’ regimes which provide relief to the entirety of business income (i.e. not necessarily IP-based) but restricted to eligible businesses deemed to be engaged in R&D or other innovation-related activities. The new indicator included in the OECD R&D Tax Incentives database specifies the cost of income-based tax support for R&D and innovation to governments in terms of foregone tax revenue. It complements existing indicators in the OECD R&D Tax Incentives database that reflect the level and structure of central government support for business R&D in form of tax and direct support for business R&D expenditures.