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Forschungszulage for automotive suppliers: liquidity out of your development work

Electrification, software, driving functions: the development budgets keep running, even where every euro counts at a supplier right now. That development work is exactly what the Forschungszulage funds, returning 25% of your eligible R&D costs, or 35% for SMEs, retroactively for up to 4 years and without giving up equity. We handle the application, you invest less than 5 hours across 4 calls.

success-based
100%success-based
retroactive
4 yearsretroactive
success rate of our applications
92%success rate of our applications
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What counts as R&D at a supplier

The BSFZ assesses every project against three criteria. It is not the component that decides, but the open technical question behind it. What the individual characteristics mean:

NoveltyCreativeUncertaintySystematic

Lightweight design and joining technology

Load-optimised structural and body parts with new material combinations whose strength in mixed construction can only be proven in trials.

Battery, thermal management, power electronics

Cell modules, cooling concepts and power electronics where energy density, charging power or thermal behaviour are technically open.

Driver assistance and sensor systems

Perception and control algorithms for assisted driving functions whose robustness under real, changing environmental conditions is uncertain.

Software and control units

New E/E and zonal architectures, ECU software, safe over-the-air updates, where latency, validation or diagnostic capability are uncharted territory.

New manufacturing processes

Forming, casting, bonding or additive processes for series parts whose process window and material behaviour still have to be researched.

Test rigs and test carriers

In-house test rigs, HiL environments and test carriers that make a technical uncertainty measurable in the first place.

Series launch and SOP preparation, tooling releases, process capability evidence and simply working through a customer specification are generally not R&D. What is eligible is the phase before that: the process that first had to work, the test rig that answered the open question, the software whose behaviour under real-world conditions was uncertain. Because both run inside the same customer project, a clean separation is part of what determines the size of the funding.

Not sure where your line runs between customer project and eligible development? 5 minutes in a call are enough for a first assessment.

Clarify the boundary in a call

Which costs you can claim

The biggest block sits with your development team, joined by test equipment and external development partners. Since 28.03.2024 test rigs count as well; from 2026 the overhead flat rate is added.

Personnel costs
100% claimable: development, design, testing, calibration, software, proportional to R&D time
Contract research
70% of the fee for external R&D contracts (for expenditure up to 27.03.2024: 60%), contractors based in the EU/EEA. Engineering service providers outside the EEA do not count
Test rigs and test carriers
Depreciation on newly acquired movable assets used exclusively for R&D (acquired after 27.03.2024)
Overhead flat rate
A 20% flat rate on direct project costs, for projects starting in 2026 or later
Own contributions
€100/h for work from 2026 (until the end of 2025: €70/h), for sole traders and partners, max. 40 hours per week
Funding rate
25% of eligible expenditure, 35% for SMEs
Assessment base
Up to €12 million per year from 2026 (28.03.2024 to the end of 2025: €10 million, before that €4 million); retroactive applications are capped at the limits in force at the time

Common doubts

Three sentences that keep suppliers from applying

These are the sentences we hear again and again in first calls with suppliers, and what actually applies:

“That is a customer project for an OEM, there is nothing in it for us.”

If you develop at your own expense and carry the technical risk, the development share of your customer project can be your own R&D. What matters is risk, results and IP rights, not the label “customer project”. In genuine contract research the client is the entitled party, which is why we look at your contracts before the application goes out.

“We have no advance development department of our own.”

The Forschungszulage asks about the project, not about your org chart. What gets counted is the R&D time of the people who worked on the open technical question, in design, testing, calibration or software, including proportionally alongside the series project. What comes afterwards — tooling release, process capability, requalification — is separated out in the application.

“The test rig is an investment, it does nothing for the Forschungszulage.”

Assets acquired from 28.03.2024 count through depreciation, if the asset is used exclusively in the R&D project. Series inspection or customer acceptance on the side rules it out, so document the usage from the start.

Do you recognise yourself in one of these sentences? Then let's clarify in a call what actually counts in your case.

Check your eligibility in a call

8 benefits

Why is the Forschungszulage a good funding option?

Compared to traditional funding programmes, the Forschungszulage is the better choice for most companies.

  • 1

    Legal entitlement

    No competition for budgets: if the criteria are met, funding must be granted.

  • 2

    Up to 4 years retroactive

    Even completed projects can still be funded.

  • 3

    Open to all industries

    Software, mechanical engineering, MedTech, construction: R&D is R&D, whatever the industry.

  • 4

    Even without profit

    No tax burden needed, the allowance is paid out as a credit.

  • 5

    Less bureaucracy

    No upfront project plan, no interim reports, no proof of use.

  • 6

    Fully digital process

    Application via BSFZ portal and ELSTER, no paper, no postal mail.

  • 7

    Thematically open

    No rigid topic catalogue: product development, process innovation, everything counts.

  • 8

    Broad cost base

    Personnel costs, contract research and capital assets are eligible.

All 8 benefits in detail →

Common questions from the automotive industry

Projects in which you systematically resolve a technical uncertainty: lightweight design and new joining processes, battery and drivetrain technology, thermal management, power electronics, perception and control algorithms for driving functions, E/E architecture and ECU software, and new manufacturing processes for series parts. You do not need a world first, but you do need novelty against the state of the art, genuine technical risk and a systematic approach.
Generally not. Series launch, tooling releases, process capability evidence, requalification and ongoing series support are industrialisation. What is eligible is the development before that, the phase in which the process, material, component or control strategy was still technically open. In practice both sit inside the same customer project, so the application needs a traceable separation by period, work packages and people. Applications can be improved at the BSFZ; at the tax office, in our experience, costs are cut more easily than added.
That depends on the individual case and is one of the trickiest points in this sector. What matters is who carries the technical development risk and who holds the results and IP rights. In genuine contract research the client is the entitled party and can claim 70% of the fee, provided the contractor is based in the EU or EEA. If instead you develop at your own risk and keep the rights, it can be your own R&D. There is no blanket answer here: this needs to be assessed against your contracts before the application goes out.
Yes, under one clear condition. For movable assets acquired or produced from 28.03.2024 onwards, the depreciation is claimable if the asset is used exclusively in the eligible R&D project. Mixed use with series inspection or customer acceptance rules it out. Building test carriers and prototypes, by contrast, is not a cost category of its own but an R&D activity: it enters the assessment base through the personnel costs of the people involved and the depreciation of the assets used, provided it is part of the R&D project and serves validation, testing and iteration. Pure pre-series production does not count.
Personnel costs for development, design, testing, calibration and software are the biggest block and 100% claimable, proportional to R&D time. Contract research adds 70% of the fee for contractors based in the EU/EEA, plus depreciation on test rigs used exclusively for R&D. New from 2026: a 20% overhead flat rate on direct project costs for newly starting projects and €100/h for own contributions of sole traders and partners, up from €70/h until the end of 2025. The funding rate is 25%, or 35% for SMEs, and from 2026 the assessment base goes up to €12 million per year (28.03.2024 to the end of 2025: €10 million, before that €4 million).
Yes, and that is what makes it relevant in the current situation. According to Oliver Wyman's 2026 automotive supplier study, 59 German suppliers with revenues above €10 million filed for insolvency in 2025 alone, with EBIT margins widely below 5%. The Forschungszulage is credited via the tax assessment and can effectively result in a payout when there is no tax to pay. It turns development work you have already done into liquidity, without new shareholders and without dilution. How it plays out for tax purposes depends on the individual case.
Yes. Expenditure can be claimed retroactively as long as the assessment period of the relevant tax assessment is still open, regularly 4 years. The exact start depends, among other things, on when the tax return was filed. For suppliers that is often the biggest lever, because the development projects of the electrification and software wave are long since done.

Talk to people who understand your development work

In a first call we clarify which of your projects go beyond series support and customer specifications, and which costs you can realistically claim. 5 minutes are enough for a first assessment, without your engineers losing days to it.

Book a call directly

More industries

Eligible R&D looks different in every industry. Here is what counts in the other sectors.

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Mechanical engineering

Forschungszulage for mechanical and plant engineering: eligible projects, cost types, common pitfalls. Recover 25%, or 35% for SMEs, of your eligible R&D costs.

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Software & AI companies

Forschungszulage for software and AI teams: which projects are eligible and why applications fail. Recover 25%, or 35% for SMEs, of your eligible R&D costs.

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MedTech & HealthTech

Forschungszulage for medical technology and digital health: eligible projects, R&D versus regulatory work. Recover 25%, or 35% for SMEs, of eligible R&D costs.

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Food industry

Forschungszulage for food manufacturers: eligible recipe, process and packaging development. Recover 25%, or 35% for SMEs, of your eligible R&D costs.

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Construction

Forschungszulage for construction companies: eligible projects from concrete formulations to AI scheduling, claimable costs and how it differs from ZIM, KfW and state programs.

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Defense tech & dual-use

Forschungszulage for defense tech and dual-use: why the FZulG is technology-neutral, and how secrecy, dual-use demarcation and public procurement contracts play out in the application. 25%, 35% for SMEs.

View industry page →

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