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RTC accreditation is designed to ensure the organisation requesting it has the R&D capabilities to act as a service provider on behalf of third parties. Thus, it provides companies subcontracting work with the ability to claim subcontractor expenses in their RTC.
Research tax credit (RTC) accreditation for a subcontractor is essential if the client is to declare the expenditure related to the research work it has entrusted to the third party in its own RTC claim. This approval, issued by the Ministry of Research, is intended to guarantee that the subcontracting organisation has the ability (human and material) to carry out R&D work. Expenditure subcontracted to organisations that do not have this approval is not eligible/cannot be taken into account for the RTC expenditure.
Previously, only individual experts and private companies had to concern themselves with accreditation approval. However, from 1st of January 2022, all research organisations (wether public, public/state attached, or private) acting as subcontractors must be accredited for the client to be able to claim the associated expenditure in their RTC claim. Accreditation can be granted to entities based in France as well as those established in a Member State of the European Union or the European Economic Area.
The terms and conditions for approval by the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research, and Innovation (MHERI) are set out in Article 49 septies H of Annex III to the CGI by Decree 2021-784 of 18/06/2021 and its joint order.
Applications for accreditation are made primarily via an online procedure:
Accreditation is granted by the MHERI, after review of the application.
The full procedure consists in compiling an application file in which a recent R&D project carried out by the applicant is presented. The applicant has to show that they has defined the scientific approach of the project presented, that it was carried under their technical responsability, that they performed the work themseslves and using their own resources.
The presentation of the project must be accompanied by administrative information such as the contract signed between the organisation and the client as well as the CVs and diplomas of the people involved in the research project.
When applying for accreditation renewal, the procedure is identical to that of the initial application.
First-time applications must be submitted between 1st of January and 15th of March of the year requested.
Renewal applications must be submitted between 15th of August and 30th of November of the last year granted.
The average time taken to process an application for approval is currently 8 months, from the time the application is submitted by the company.
For private organisations or individual experts, approval is granted for a full calendar year for a period that may vary from 1 to 5 years.
For public bodies, the period of validity of RTC approval can vary from 5 to 10 years.
When a company has been granted RTC approval, it can automatically obtain innovation approval (ITC) at its own request, without having to compile a specific file for it. The Ministry for Research is then authorised to issue ITC approval. Other applications for ITC approval, separate from RTC approval, must be submitted to the Ministry for Industry.
Identification of an R&D project in progress or completed less than 1 year ago.
Collection of technical and administrative information.
Drafting of the application form and online submission.
Follow-up of the dossier with the MHERI.
Do you want to gain an edge over your competitors and win the loyalty of your French customers?
The majority of companies declaring RTC choose to entrust R&D work to RTC-accredited organisations. For one of our customers, RTC accreditation was a clause in its contract with its client. We helped this customer to obtain their RTC accreditation.
Would you like to have one of your subsidiaries accredited?
One of our customers is an international CRO with several subsidiaries located in the European Union. We have successfully obtained the RTC accredited status for all its subsidiares and we have been handling their accreditation renewal for years.
Has your RTC accreditation been denied by the French Ministry of Research?
A company contacted us after its application for RTC approval was rejected by the Ministry. The technical file submitted did not meet the Ministry’s requirements. We therefore completely revised the presentation of the project in order to respond to the arguments set out in the refusal letter. Our customer finally obtained its RTC accreditation.
Do you outsource certain R&D operations and want to include them in your RTC?
One of our customers commissioned us to optimise their RTC. We audited their subcontracting activity, identified eligible canditates for RTC accreditation and we obtained the accreditated status for their subcontractors, significantly increasing their RTC expenditure.