Research & Development Tax Credits and Grants

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Turning eligible R&D into measurable savings.

 

Exploring R&D tax credits and innovation grants in Ireland is a strategic way for organisations to drive innovation, reduce costs, and increase profitability. With the R&D tax credit rate currently at 30%* and grant funding covering up to 50% or more of eligible research and development expenditure, these incentives can reduce the cost of innovation by a third or more.

These supports provide far more than funding—they enable a sustainable innovation pipeline, stronger competitiveness, and faster business growth. Whether you are a start-up, SME, or multinational, there are tailored R&D tax credit and grant funding options across all sectors, from technology and life sciences to manufacturing and food & drink.

Now is the time to assess your eligibility, plan your innovation funding strategy, and maximise the value of Ireland’s R&D incentives for your business.

*R&D Tax Credits are rising to 35% for accounting periods commencing on or after 1st January 2026.


BDO’s R&D Tax Credits and Grants team brings together Ireland’s first engineer-led R&D incentives practice with global expertise across more than 500 specialists. Our multidisciplinary team—spanning engineering, science, technology, and tax—ensures every eligible activity and cost is captured, documented, and maximised.

With decades of experience, a proven 99%+ success rate, and one of the country’s strongest Revenue audit records, we help clients secure R&D incentives with confidence and minimal disruption. Our focus: precision, process efficiency, and measurable results.

BDO R&D TAX CREDITS AND GRANT INCENTIVES TEAM GRAPH

Our Research, Development & Innovation Areas

Discover the supports available across Ireland’s R&D landscape, from tax credits and grants to knowledge development and digital innovation. Scroll or use the arrows below to explore each area in more detail.

How can BDO help?


We have extensive experience in all industry sectors and work with companies of every size and scale. Through our engineer/scientist-led approach, we can provide tailored workshops for your staff to educate them on the available R&D incentives, the types of activities that are typically allowable, and how to ensure sufficient documentation and activity tracking to support any claims.

We empower your people through training to enable them to recognise activities that would qualify for R&D incentives so that they can make applications/claims in the future. This ensures that you are not forgoing any incentives that are available to the company.

Documentation preparation is a critical and time-consuming part of any R&D incentives process. In fact, if they are incomplete or unimpressive, the chance of making a successful application or claim can be reduced significantly. BDO’s R&D practice has decades of international experience preparing documentation for R&D incentives. Unlike other service providers, we remove the administrative burden from your employees, enabling them to focus on actual business objectives.

Business structures, transactions, and complex legislation can significantly affect current and future R&D incentives applications and/or claims. Along with the application/claim documentation, an organisation is required to ensure that the costs and activities it claims are eligible under the R&D incentives. Our tax, technical, and accounting experts can assist you in this area.

We work with you to identify and implement appropriate tracking programs, primarily leveraging the documentation you already have. This will help support your claim without creating additional administration or special “R&D only” documentation. We also offer a unique, interactive, cloud-based project management and data analytics solution, which can be tailored to your requirements.

We are here to help should your claim be selected for a more detailed review by Revenue. Our knowledge of legislation and experience with managing the claims process can ensure the entire process is as efficient as possible, while also minimising disruption.


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Contact our expert today!

Mark-OSullivan-partner-bdo-ireland

Mark O'Sullivan

Partner, Research & Development Incentives, BDO Dublin
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