Table of Contents
The Knowledge Box Regime
The Finance Act 2015 introduced a knowledge development box regime. A 6.25% tax rate applies to profits from qualifying assets earned by an Irish company carrying on a specified trade.
The profits available are the proportion of the profits of the specified trade that the expenditure on qualifying assets bears to total costs incurred to develop the qualifying assets. It is the proportion that the Irish company’s expenditure on the assets bears to the total cost of developing the qualifying assets.
The specified trades under the legislation are any one or more of the following:
- managing, developing, maintaining, protecting, enhancing or exploiting of intellectual property; researching, planning, processing, experimenting, testing, devising, developing or other similar activity leading to an invention or creation of intellectual property; or
- the sale of goods or the supply of services that derive part of their value from activities described above, where the above forms part of a trade.
The specified trade is deemed to be a separate trade and the provisions apply to the specified trade, isolated from the other trades of the company.
Qualifying Assets
Qualifying asset is an intellectual property, other than marketing-related intellectual property, the result of research and development activities. It includes computer programs, inventions protected by patents, supplementary protection certificates for medicinal and plant or plant protection products and plant breeders’ rights.
Only patents which have undergone a substantive examination will qualify. Patent legislation is to be amended so that Irish patents include a substantive examination for novelty and inventive steps. Unexamined patents certified prior to 1 January 2017 may qualify. In the case of patent granted prior to 2016, the certification requirements do not apply.
Profits
The profits of the specified trade are the total income from the qualifying asset comprising royalty income and licence fee income, from the use of or the exploitation of the qualifying asset.
It also includes parts of the sale price, calculated on a just and reasonable basis attributable to the qualifying asset. Expenditure in earning the income is to be approportioned and distributed to this specified trade on a just and reasonable basis.
Qualifying profits in relation to qualifying assets are the profits of the specified trade as defined above in the proportion of the qualifying expenditure incurred on the qualifying asset to the overall expenditure.
Qualifying Expenditure
Qualifying expenditure on a qualifying asset is expenditure wholly and exclusively incurred by the company in carrying on research and development activities in an EU State, where the activities lead to the development, improvement or creation of a qualifying asset. This is equivalent to the definition of research and development activities for the purpose of the research and development tax credit.
Qualifying expenditure excludes costs incurred to related parties. It excludes acquisition costs and group outsourcing costs.
Uplift expenditure may take account of this excluded expenditure. It is the lower of 30% of qualifying expenditure or the aggregate of amounts paid to group companies and acquisition costs.
Qualifying profits of the specified trade calculated under formula determine the amount of profits qualifying for the knowledge development box relief. The relief gives the company an allowance of 50% of such qualifying profits to be treated as a trading expense. This allowance halves the rate of tax on qualifying profits to 6.25%.
Claim
The claim must be made within 24 months of year end. Revenue may take expert advice to determine any aspect of the claim. The knowledge development box relief is ignored for the purpose of the research and development tax credit, which is refundable. It cannot be taken into account in order to increase the cash refund.
Where a claim is made for relief on a qualifying asset, the company must continue to claim the relief for periods until the qualifying asset is disposed of or ceases to be used. The qualifying profit is calculated by the sum of the qualifying expenditure and uplift expenditure divided by overall expenditure, multiplied by the qualifying profits. The qualifying profits are effectively taxed at half rate.
Reliefs available under the knowledge development box do not increase the refundable research and development tax credits. The amount of unused research and development tax credit arising from the knowledge development box relief is not available for the R&D tax credit refund. It is ring-fenced and must be carried forward.
Linked Assets
Where a company has a number of qualifying assets that are linked, family of assets for this purpose is the smallest grouping of assets for which income and expenditure can be reasonably identified. The knowledge development box is applicable to this family of assets as a single qualifying asset.
Separate documentation is required in respect of each family of assets. The records must support the claim of scientific technologies and engineering challenges underlying the activity, which produce the qualifying asset. There must be a link between the expenditures and the family of assets. Detailed records are required of income and expenditure on the qualifying assets. They must be documented
Anti-Avoidance / Transfer Pricing
Anti-avoidance provisions seek to ensure that qualifying expenditure on a qualifying asset and income from a qualifying asset include only amounts incurred or received for bona fide commercial purposes that are not part of scheme of arrangement, the main purpose of which is tax avoidance.
Large companies must use the transfer pricing rules to determine market value in intellectual property, apportionment of income in relation to the overall income from the qualifying asset, apportionment of R&D activities for the purpose of qualifying expenditure and the qualifying asset apportionments relating to corporation tax referable to be specified trade and transitional measures respectively.
Timing
Transitional rules may apply until 2020. Acquisition cost and group outsourcing costs incurred prior to commencement of the legislation on 1 January 2016 may limit the relief as they are not part of qualifying expenditure.
Qualifying expenditure and qualifying assets is determined with reference to the expenditure on all qualifying assets in the two year period ending on the last day of the accounting period. Accordingly pre-2016 expenditure may be incurred in the case of group outsourcing costs; a just and reasonable allocation must be made, where appropriate.