3 September 2020
A report was released today from the Senate Select Committee on Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology, chaired by Senator Andrew Bragg. This Committee was reviewing tax, regulation, capital and funding, skills and talent, and culture, in relation to FinTech and RegTech companies, not Health Industry companies. Their full report can be viewed here.
Importantly, they provide two valuable R&DTI recommendations that are relevant for our sector as well:
- The need for clarity & certainty in relation to software (relevant to digital health companies).
- The need to remove retrospectivity.
The Committee that we submitted our comments to is the Senate Economics Legislation Committee – Treasury Laws Amendment (Research and Development Tax Incentive) Bill 2019 chaired by Senator Slade Brockman. We are expecting their recommendations to be published on 12 October 2020, and will advise you once these are available.
24 August 2020
Earlier this year, on 6 February 2020, the Senate referred the provisions of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Research and Development Tax Incentive) Bill 2019 to the Economics Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 30 April 2020. Following a resolution of the Committee, and in accordance with the motion agreed by the Senate on 23 March 2020, the reporting date for the inquiry was extended to 7 August 2020.
On 23 March 2020, based on an agreed temporary order, the Senate Economics Legislation Committee agreed that the time for presentation of the report be extended from 7 August 2020 to 24 August 2020.
Last week, on Friday 21 August 2020, the Committee agreed to a further extension for presentation to 12 October 2020. This is after the the 2020/21 Budget is handed down on 6 October 2020.
We will keep you posted regarding progress of the Committee’s report, any changes to the Bill and any updates that the Budget might refer to in relation to the Bill.
Previous updates
9 July 2020
The Senate Economics Legislation Committee met on Monday 29 June 2020 to review the “Treasury Laws Amendment (Research and Development Tax Incentive) Bill 2019” (RDTI Bill).
The reporting date for the inquiry is expected to be 7 August 2020, and we will update members when this is released and the next steps are identified.
View the full update here.
BIOMELBOURNE NETWORK’S SUBMISSION
The submission from BioMelbourne Network (see this LINK) was part of a Joint Submission from the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI), Life Science Queensland, Medical Technology Association of Australia, Medicines Australia & Research Australia. The Economics Legislation Committee has these documents.
HANSARD TRANSCRIPT
The Hansard transcript confirms that those invited to attend addressed the primary concerns we had raised, and thus represented our range of members. The full transcript can be found at HANSARD.
