Have you got a great idea you want to bring to reality? There are incentives to help you do this.
The key piece of the jigsaw to bring an idea to reality is funding the costs. Classic early-stage ideas often rely on the three Fs for funding – friends, family and fools – but there are other options for sourcing funds.
Potential customers
Often your innovation will solve a problem and the people who understand the problem are your potential customers. The cheapest form of money can be payments from customers because that doesn’t dilute your equity and can provide beneficial market feedback.
Capital sources
There are now online capital-raising platforms, such as www.agfunder.com. AgFunder is the premier marketplace for the most promising Ag and AgTech start-ups seeking to raise investment capital from accredited investors. There are also incubators, like Sproutx, that help early-stage ideas get on their feet through providing capital, offices, mentoring and networking.
See Advisory Partner’s capital-raising resources here.
Tax incentives
Tax incentives for eligible investors include a 20% non-refundable carry-forward tax offset on investment, capped at $200,000 per investor, per year. There is a 10-year capital gains tax exemption for qualifying investments held for at least 12 months. To be eligible for the $200,000 incentive, an investor must meet the ‘sophisticated investor’ test under the Corporations Act 2001 or, if they do not meet that test, their total investment in qualifying companies must be $50,000 or less for that income year.
The research and development (R&D) tax concession is a great opportunity to get cash back from money invested in R&D through a corporate structure. You can access:
• A 43.5% refundable tax offset for companies with an annual turnover of less than $20 million. The tax offset is available to companies that are not controlled by tax-exempt entities.
• A non-refundable 38.5% tax offset for all other eligible companies. Unused non-refundable offset amounts may be able to be carried forward to future income years.
Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority
The QRIDA delivers a broad range of financial assistance programs on behalf of state, territory and the federal governments. Click here to see the range of programs and services available to you.