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Apply for a certificate for a research allowance for a research and development project

Apply to the Research Allowance Certification Office (BSFZ) for tax-incentivized research funding for your company for basic research, industrial research or experimental development.

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Procedure details

Whether start-up, small, medium-sized or large company: All companies subject to tax in Germany that carry out research and development can benefit from the research allowance.

To do so, submit an "Application for certification of an R&D project" to the Research Allowance Certification Office (BSFZ). The BSFZ will check whether your project is an eligible research project. The BSFZ examines your submissions for novelty, risk or unpredictability and whether they are on schedule.

You can apply for a certificate for a research grant before, during or after completion of your project. Please note that you should always apply for the certificate first. This is a prerequisite for you to be able to subsequently submit the "Application for research allowance" to your local tax office.

  • Your company is subject to tax in Germany.
  • Your company generates income.
  • You have registered on the web portal of the Bescheinigungsstelle Forschungszulage (BSFZ) and submitted an application.
  • Your research project falls into one of the following three categories: Basic research, industrial research and experimental development.
  • You have incurred eligible expenses (e.g. wages for employees)

  • Required Documents
    • Master data of the company.
    • Statistical data of the company

To apply for the research allowance certificate, follow these steps:

  • Registration and application:
    • Visit the web portal of the Bescheinigungsstelle Forschungszulage (BSFZ) and register there. After registering, you can log in with your access data.
  • Fill out the application form:
    • Fill out the online application form. Here you must provide detailed information about your research and development project (R&D project). This includes
      • Description of the project
      • Objectives and expected results
      • Timetable and milestones
      • Budget and planned expenditure
  • Submission of the application:
    • Submit the completed application online.
  • Review by the BSFZ:
    • The BSFZ will check your application for eligibility as a beneficiary.
  • Receive certificate:
    • After a successful review, you will receive a certificate confirming the eligibility of your R&D project. This certificate will also be sent directly to the relevant tax office.
  • Apply for a research allowance from the tax office:
    • With the certificate, you can now apply for the research allowance at the relevant tax office via the ELSTER portal.
    • The tax office will check your application and determine the research allowance.

There are no costs.

Make sure that you submit your application in good time.

In principle, you can only submit the application up to the end of four years. The deadline begins at the end of the calendar year in which you incurred eligible expenses. For eligible expenses in 2025, for example, the deadline would begin at the end of 2025 and end on December 31, 2029.

0 bis 3 Monate

The certificate for a research allowance is the first part of a 2-step procedure. Once you have received the certificate for a research allowance, you can use it to apply for a research allowance in the ELSTER portal at your local tax office in the next step.

  • Appeal

Further information on how to lodge an objection can be found in the notification of your application for certification from the Research Allowance Certification Office

Status: 01.09.2025
Editorially responsible for prodecure description: Bundesministerium für Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt + Bundesministerium für Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt
Source: Federal Portal