How do you apply for the Forschungszulage?

Overview: the Forschungszulage application

Who reviews your application? The certification body (BSFZ)

The BSFZ is the central body for the technical review of R&D projects.§ 5 FZulG It receives applications via its online portal and distributes them to specialised institutes for assessment (DLR, VDI, AiF).

You cannot influence which institute reviews your application. Processing time varies depending on the institute and workload. If information is incomplete, you will receive a request for additional information — typically only one chance to respond.Prüfleitfaden Ch. 1.1.4 For amendment applications, processing is typically much faster than for initial applications.

Who reads your application? Former research directors and engineers

Your application is not read by administrators, but by technical experts with engineering backgrounds: former heads of research, engineers, programmers, and natural scientists. They assess based on the official review guideline whether your project meets the three R&D criteria.Prüfleitfaden Ch. 1

This means: Write for engineers, not for managers. General or marketing-oriented descriptions like "innovative product" or "more revenue" will not convince the reviewers. They want to know specifically: What is the current state of the art? What exactly is technically new about it? What scientific or technical risk exists?Prüfleitfaden Ch. 1.1.2

How is my application reviewed?

The reviewers work according to the official BSFZ Review Guideline — the central document that defines what qualifies as R&D and what does not.

The BSFZ reviews each project against three criteria§ 2 FZulG. All three must be met. A detailed explanation can be found in the Requirements guide — here is the reviewers' perspective.

Not every activity is automatically eligible — the BSFZ clearly defines in its review guideline what can be certified and what cannot§ 2 (2) FZulG. The eligible phase ends, for example, already with the test of a prototype.Prüfleitfaden Ch. 2.1.2

Costs in the application: how the BSFZ plausibility check works

An important distinction: The BSFZ only checks your cost estimates for plausibility, not in detail.Prüfleitfaden Ch. 1.2 They check whether the information on personnel effort and costs is generally plausible — not whether every number is exactly correct.

What the BSFZ would flag as implausible: if an e-commerce company states that 100% of employees exclusively perform R&D. But if a technology company declares 20–30% of its personnel costs as R&D, that is understandable.

Estimate generously rather than conservatively. The detailed review only happens at the tax office — and there it is easier to approve less than to increase the amount retroactively.

Timing: when should you apply?

The Forschungszulage can be applied for up to four years retroactively§ 6 FZulG. This makes it fundamentally different from traditional funding programmes.

Recommended strategy:

• Apply 1–2 years retroactively — for already completed project phases
• Include the current year in your plan
• Only plan ahead as far as you have reliable projections

The major advantage of retroactive application: you already know what was actually researched. No elaborate reporting, no deviations from the original plan.

Retroactive or advance application?

The BSFZ certificate covers the entire project — including its full duration. The tax office application is submitted separately per fiscal year. So you use the same BSFZ certificate for multiple tax office applications.

Retroactively for multiple years at once— You apply for the BSFZ certificate for a project and then submit a separate tax office application for each past fiscal year. This is the most efficient approach because you know exactly what R&D expenditures were actually incurred.

Annually with the same certificate — You obtain the BSFZ certificate once and then submit the tax office application each year after the fiscal year ends.

In practice, we recommend a combination: cover 1–2 years retroactively plus the current year with the initial application, then submit the tax office application annually for the completed fiscal year going forward.

Can the application be changed after submission?

At the BSFZ: yes, but it requires effort. As long as the BSFZ is still processing the application or has already issued the certificate, you can submit an amendment application. Processing time for amendment applications is typically shorter than for initial applications.

At the tax office: no. Once the Forschungszulage application has been submitted to the tax office, changes are no longer possible. If something changes about your project after the BSFZ certificate has been issued, you must first submit the amendment application to the BSFZ and wait for the new certificate.

Forschungszulage at the tax office: the application via ELSTER

After receiving the BSFZ certificate, you submit the application to the responsible tax office via Mein ELSTER§ 6 FZulG. This is where it gets concrete — the tax office reviews the actual expenditures in detail:

• Gross salaries of employees involved in the R&D project
• Timesheets as proof of actual R&D working hours
• Employment contracts to verify the employment relationships
• Invoices for contract research and capital goods
• Correct calculation of the assessment basis and compliance with caps

The project must essentially be the same one described to the BSFZ. Tax audits do occur — especially for larger funding amounts. Clean documentation from the start is therefore essential.

Forschungszulage vs. traditional funding programmes

If you have experience with ZIM, BMBF programmes, or EU project funding, you know the typical process: submit a project application before starting, write interim reports, have milestones reviewed — and in the end, explain why the project turned out differently than planned. The Forschungszulage application process is fundamentally different.