The Forschungszulage is based on eligible expenditure under § 3 FZulG. In practice staff costs make up the largest share, and this is exactly where it is decided how much assessment base you can actually claim.
What counts as staff costs
Eligible under § 3 (1) FZulG are wages subject to payroll tax plus the employer's social security contributions, but only for the share of time the employee actually spent on a qualifying R&D project.
In practice that means: gross salary plus the employer's social security contribution (typically around 20 per cent) feed into the assessment base, provided the work can be demonstrably attributed to the R&D project. Someone working 80 per cent on R&D contributes 80 per cent of their eligible wage costs.
Specifically, the assessment base includes:
- Gross salary (subject to payroll tax)
- Employer contributions to pension, health, long-term care and unemployment insurance
- Pro rata wage costs for part-time work on R&D
The assessment base does not include:
- Tax-free travel expense reimbursements
- One-off bonuses with no direct link to R&D work
- Wage costs for hours spent on operations or series production
Own work by entrepreneurs and shareholders
Sole traders and actively involved co-entrepreneurs in a partnership don't receive a "real" wage, but under § 3 (3) FZulG they can claim notional own work.
From 1 January 2026 the rate is €100 per working hour, capped at 40 hours a week. For hours up to 31 December 2025 it was €70. The higher rate only applies to hours actually worked after the turn of the year; retroactive claims for earlier financial years stay at €70.
Shareholder-managing directors of a GmbH are normally employees of their company and are therefore covered by the ordinary wage cost rule, not the own-work rule. That requires an employment contract with clearly agreed remuneration.
20% overhead flat rate from 2026
The 2025 immediate tax investment programme introduced a new simplification: for financial years beginning after 31 December 2025, 20 per cent of the remaining eligible expenditure may be claimed as a flat overhead rate, with no itemised evidence.
It works like this: you determine the eligible staff costs (and where relevant own work and contract research shares), and add 20 per cent on top automatically. Premises costs, IT licences, energy costs: none of it has to be evidenced individually.
For a company with €500,000 in eligible staff costs a year, that adds €100,000 to the assessment base with no extra paperwork. For an SME on a 35% funding rate, that is €35,000 more Forschungszulage from the flat rate alone.
What isn't eligible
Three situations regularly lead to reductions during assessment.
- Double funding: staff costs already funded through ZIM, EXIST or another state aid scheme may not additionally feed into the Forschungszulage assessment base under § 7 FZulG. The dividing line runs person by person: the same working hour is only funded once.
- Routine work: wage costs for staff running series production, maintenance, sales or standard IT operations are not eligible, even where the company as a whole is innovative.
- The project lacks R&D quality: eligible staff costs presuppose that the project the hours are assigned to has received a BSFZ certificate. Without that certificate the tax office recognises no R&D staff costs.
Time records as a precondition
The BSFZ only assesses whether a project qualifies on the merits, not the costs. Assessing staff costs is the tax office's job during the assessment procedure.
The tax office requires evidence that the working hours claimed really can be attributed to the certified R&D project. Without complete, contemporaneous time records, the tax office won't accept the staff costs. Reconstruction after the fact, from calendar entries or Git commits for instance, is regularly challenged when it is the only basis.
What robust records have to deliver:
- Attribution per employee to a specific R&D project (not just to the project in general)
- Contemporaneous recording, not written up at the year end
- Consistency with the project description in the BSFZ application
- A distinction between R&D time and operational time where an employee does both
In a tax audit, time records and payroll accounts are usually examined together. Anyone who documents the chain from the BSFZ certificate through the project description to the time records and payroll accounts without gaps is in a far stronger position.
FAQ
Which staff costs are eligible for the Forschungszulage? Eligible are gross wages subject to payroll tax plus the employer's social security contributions, but only for hours in which the employee demonstrably worked on a qualifying R&D project. One-off bonuses with no direct link to the work and tax-free travel reimbursements don't count towards the assessment base.
What is the hourly rate for own work under the Forschungszulage in 2026? For hours worked from 1 January 2026 a notional rate of €100 an hour applies, capped at 40 hours a week. For hours up to 31 December 2025 it was €70 an hour. Sole traders and actively involved co-entrepreneurs are entitled to claim it.
What is the 20% overhead flat rate in the Forschungszulage? From 1 January 2026, 20 per cent of the remaining eligible expenditure may be claimed as a flat overhead rate with no itemised evidence. That raises the assessment base automatically, without having to evidence rent, IT or energy costs individually.
Do I need time records for the Forschungszulage? Yes. The BSFZ only assesses whether the project qualifies on the merits, not the costs. During assessment the tax office requires evidence that the working hours claimed can be attributed to the relevant R&D project. Reconstruction after the fact is regularly challenged.
Can I claim staff costs for employees who only work partly on R&D? Yes, but only pro rata. Someone working 60 per cent on an R&D project brings 60 per cent of their eligible wage costs into the assessment base. The percentage has to be evidenced per employee and per project through time records.
Forschungszulage 2026: the complete guide
A €12m assessment base, a 35% SME rate, a two-stage procedure: an overview of the Forschungszulage in 2026, and where to find the detail.
Forschungszulage: keeping time records properly
Without complete time records the tax office won't accept the staff costs. How the documentation has to be structured, which formats work, and what a tax audit looks for.
Forschungszulage for sole traders: costing your own work correctly
€100 an hour, 40 hours a week, complete time records: how sole traders and actively involved co-entrepreneurs bring their own work into the Forschungszulage.
Forschungszulage 2026: amounts, rates, caps
25% or 35% on an assessment base of up to €12m: what the Forschungszulage is actually worth in 2026 and which rates apply to your company.
All the detail, eligibility and pitfalls:
- [1]§ 3 FZulG — eligible expenditure and the assessment base— gesetze-im-internet.de (BMJ), 2026 Source
- [2]The immediate tax investment programme and its effect on the Forschungszulage— Bescheinigungsstelle Forschungszulage (BSFZ), 2026 Source
- [3]Act on tax incentives for research and development (FZulG)— Federal Ministry of Justice · gesetze-im-internet.de, 2026 Source
- [4]FAQ — assessment criteria and application procedure for the Forschungszulage— BSFZ, 2026 Source