How to write a research tax credit ("CIR") file for a video game prototype?
The question of drafting a research tax credit (called "crédit impôt recherche" or "CIR" in French) arises as early as the prototyping stage of a video game. This stage is generally accompanied by unusual technical problems. Solving these problems can lead to the implementation of a research and development campaign.
The research tax credit ("CIR") provides a 30% refund of the tax share of R&D costs. This refund is applied as a deduction from your corporation tax or by bank transfer if you do not pay any.
Obtaining and retaining the research tax credit ("CIR") for the development of a video game
The research tax credit is declarative. This means that you can declare the amount of expenditure that you consider eligible for the scheme. Claiming this tax credit is very simple in practice. It's just a box to fill in on a tax form. Where things get more complicated is when you have to provide evidence of the work you are describing as 'R&D'.
To avoid repayment of the "CIR"), it is necessary to justify each year the work carried out by the R&D teams. You will need to gather evidence that shows your technical problems and the solutions you have developed to solve them. This evidence will need to be aggregated in order to reconstruct the chronology of the work done.
BigWhoop takes care of writing your "CIR" 'dossier'
Identifying the evidence in the data stream produced by a video game studio can be a headache. Which elements are the most relevant to present? What is the volume of evidence to be produced according to the amount of research tax credit claimed? Is my project still eligible for the research tax credit?
At BigWhoop, we want to avoid unpleasant surprises, such as a full refund of the research tax credit. The classic method consists of calculating the amount of the "CIR" in the first instance. Then, in a second step, declare it to the tax authorities. And finally, in a third step, to produce technical justifications. This method works when the eligibility of the project has been validated for several years by the tax authorities; in the case of a new project, this method is extremely risky and generally leads to the "CIR" being reimbursed several months later.
Our method consists of summarising your work and then sending this document to the Ministry of Research (rescript). The Ministry gives its opinion on your work and determines whether it is eligible for the research tax credit. If the opinion is favourable, we calculate the exact tax credit. Then we apply for the refund from the tax authorities.
Bonus Stage : If this amount of R&D expenditure represents 15% of the company's total expenditure, we also apply for the Young Innovative Company (JEI) status from the tax authorities and the URSSAF.
