In our second instalment of our four episode Tax Month series, in collaboration with the South African Institute of Tax Practitioners, or Sait for short, we will be unpacking Research and Development Incentives - or R&D as the bean counters refer to it .
R&D incentives have been around for a while, and tweaked on occasion, but have not been particularly successful. South Africa is no silicon valley, if you know what I mean.
The National Treasury has also become quite averse to incentives in general, as there has been much talk about scrapping altogether.
However, dwindling private sector spending on research has been flagged as a major concern for many years, and has been blamed for South Africa’s diminishing research coffers. And now the tax incentive approach has rekindled its flame.
South Africa offers a 150% rebate on company expenditure on R&D and criticisms of the low uptake have been voiced since its inception in 2006.
We talk to Sait CEO Keith Engel with his wingman Darren Margo, who is an admitted attorney and patent specialist, on how South Africa offers a 150% rebate on company expenditure on R&D and criticisms of the low uptake have been voiced since its inception in 2006.
Darren specialises in the drafting and prosecution of patent applications, and conducting patent searches. He also prepares opinions on novelty and infringement matters in the fields of patent, design and copyright law.
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