Can a Software Studio Claim Austria's Forschungsprämie? Which Dev Costs Qualify

Potentially, if the business and activity satisfy the statutory requirements. Austria's Forschungsprämie is 14% of the qualifying research and experimental-development assessment base and is credited to the tax account. It is not dependent on taxable profit, but routine software implementation is outside the R&D definition. There is no single "competent engineer" shortcut: assess novelty, creativity, uncertainty, systematic work, and transferability or reproducibility against the official guidance. Current as of 2 September 2026. General information only, not legal or tax advice.

Does software development qualify for the Forschungsprämie?

Some software work can qualify. The Forschungsprämie uses the Frascati-based R&D definition, and the FFG guidance describes novelty, creativity, uncertainty, systematic work, and transferability or reproducibility. Difficulty, expense, or commercial novelty alone is not enough. The analysis belongs at the activity or project level and must explain the knowledge gap, method, work performed, and result.

A consensus mechanism, cryptographic technique, performance method, or machine-learning experiment may qualify when the documented work actually meets those criteria. A CRUD feature, integration, redesign, framework migration, prompt change, or LLM API connection is not automatically R&D, although a broader project containing it may also contain separately identifiable qualifying activities. Allocate costs to the supported R&D portion and exclude routine implementation.

Which of your dev costs actually count?

The assessment base can include wages and salaries for R&D staff, direct R&D expenses and investments, financing expenses, research-related overhead, and the statutory notional entrepreneur wage, less relevant tax-free public funding and amounts covered by a contract-research notice. The 2026 BMF explanation of the FoPV amendment also ties amounts to actual tax-effective business expenses and explains rules for sustainably used assets. Confirm the treatment with a tax adviser. This simplified example illustrates arithmetic only, not eligibility or a benchmark.

• Developer salaries (gross, incl. employer costs). 2 engineers at 70% of their time on the research project: EUR 180,000
• Research lead / architect (part-time on the project). EUR 40,000
• Directly attributable overhead (cloud compute for experiments, prototyping hardware, project-specific tooling): EUR 25,000
• Total qualifying R&D base: EUR 245,000
• Illustrative Forschungsprämie at 14%: EUR 34,300 tax-account credit

The premium is credited to the tax account rather than deducted from profit, so a loss does not by itself prevent it. Only the substantiated share attributable to qualifying R&D belongs in the base. If an engineer spent 70% of the year on qualifying activity and 30% on routine maintenance, the allocation and underlying records must support the amount claimed.

The FFG Gutachten: what evidence does the claim need?

For in-house R&D, a free FFG annual opinion is generally required. The FFG assesses whether the described activities meet the substantive R&D requirements in principle. The Finanzamt remains responsible for the claim, including the assessment base. Contract research follows a different route and does not require an FFG opinion.

Common weaknesses to address in the submission include:

• A feature list instead of an R&D description. State the objective, knowledge or capability gap, uncertainty, method, work performed, and result.
• An unsupported systematic method. Show planned investigation, experiments or analysis, records, and conclusions appropriate to the work.
• No separation from routine implementation. Distinguish qualifying activities and costs from surrounding product, integration, maintenance, and commercial work.
• Insufficient records. Keep technical and cost evidence contemporaneously so the description and allocation can be reconciled.

The practical move: write the project description in the language of uncertainty and method, keep records as you go, and do not wait until filing season to reconstruct what happened. See how we scope this inside delivery on our software development and fractional CTO pages.

Forschungsprämie vs Germany's Forschungszulage: a comparison

If you operate on both sides of the border, the two regimes differ in rate, cost base, cap, certification, and payment mechanics. Both can produce value when taxable profit is low or zero, but neither regime can be transferred mechanically to the other country.

Sources: Austria's official USP guidance and FFG application guidance; Germany's current Forschungszulagengesetz, BMF 2026 summary, and BSFZ overview.

How public funding affects the premium base

The premium can coexist with direct funding, but the base must be calculated under the applicable tax rules. Official FFG guidance says to deduct tax-free public funding and expenditure covered by a contract-research notice. The treatment therefore depends on the funding instrument, its tax treatment, the supported cost, and the allocation, not merely on whether the project also received an aws or FFG grant.

Keep the grant decision, cost ledger, time records, contract-research notices, and premium calculation reconcilable. Do not assume that every grant combines in the same way or that 14% applies automatically to the portion the company financed. Confirm the live program and tax treatment with the funding body and a qualified adviser. Our companion post explains the planning questions for stacking aws and FFG funding.

"Effort alone does not establish R&D. Describe the uncertainty, method, work, and result, then separate that activity from routine product delivery."

Q&A: We are a bootstrapped studio with no profit. Can we still claim?

A tax loss or lack of taxable profit does not by itself exclude the claim. The premium is not taxable business income and is credited to the tax account. Whether and when that produces a payout depends on the assessed claim and the state of the tax account, so cash timing should not be treated as automatic or identical for every company.

Q&A: We do contract dev for a client. Who claims it?

Apply the statutory in-house and contract-research rules, not an ownership or billing label alone. For qualifying contract research, the client may include eligible invoiced expenditure up to EUR 1,000,000 per full 12-month business year when the contractor and activity meet the requirements. The client must notify the contractor by the end of its business year of the amount for which it claims the premium; the contractor is excluded from claiming that notified amount. A contractor may have separately identifiable in-house R&D, but it needs its own qualifying facts and costs. Address the intended treatment, records, notice, and allocation in the contract and with advisers. Our Werkvertrag versus time and material article covers the separate delivery-contract question.

Q&A: Does AI / LLM R&D qualify?

AI and LLM work is assessed activity by activity under the same R&D criteria as other software. Routine API integration, configuration, or prompt iteration will often lack the required novelty or technological uncertainty, but the tool or technique does not decide eligibility by itself. A documented model, data, evaluation, architecture, or performance investigation may qualify when it genuinely meets the criteria; training or fine-tuning is not automatically eligible. Separate qualifying experimental work from routine product and compliance work. Our EU AI Act compliance cost article covers a different planning question.

Q&A: How far back can I claim?

The official deadline begins at the end of the relevant business year and ends four years after it begins. A prior year may therefore still be open, but verify the exact deadline and procedural position in FinanzOnline before relying on it. Eligibility and allocation still need evidence. Contemporaneous technical and cost records are generally more reliable than a reconstruction made years later.