In recent years, the legislator has extended the scope of the PTE to “all” companies employing researchers (although there is no definition or degree requirement for these profiles), but with specific “categories”:
- Universities, colleges, accredited scientific institutions, research funds, etc. ;
- Companies that have signed a collaboration agreement with one of the entities in the first category;
- Young Innovative Company (YIC);
- Other” employers (companies, but also foundations and non-profit organisations).
Depending on the “category”, the conditions of access to PTE and the rules for calculation vary. Once these initial questions have been answered, it is necessary to identify the staff to be declared and to define the working time concerned (if applicable). These elements will enrich the scientific report and enable the tax file to be put together, which will include all the financial calculations. At this stage, you will be faced with other questions:
- Have we included all R&D projects in the report?
- How to prove the R&D dimension of each project? For example, through regional subsidies obtained for research, clinical studies, collaboration agreements, patent applications, etc.
- Have we identified all relevant personnel?
- What proportion should be applied to each member of staff?
- How to prove it? This is an essential step which involves reviewing documents such as timesheets, job descriptions, appraisals, management reports, etc.
