Innovation can unlock enormous upside for your business, especially from the perspectives of competition and revenue generation. While numerous financial and legal supports are available, ensuring you have availed of the right combination for your innovation and R&D activities, at the right stage in the process, can make a big difference to your ultimate ROI.

At KPMG in Belgium, our multidisciplinary teams can help unburden yours, by taking care of navigating the various options and opportunities available to you, while keeping you apprised of risks and developments that are relevant to your business. The better we know you, the more proactive we can be, so you can focus on what’s most important: maximizing the revenue from your ideas.

How we can help

Our teams are carefully selected to provide the right counterparts to support your C-level executives and technical specialists alike. Our experienced strategic and management advisory experts help executives to unblock corporate silos to improve communication and collaboration across different functions within your business, which is critical to generate idea-flow. We can also help you identify strategic opportunities to partner with a broader network of companies, research organizations, and academic institutions working on similar innovation projects – many of which we already have good professional relationships with - so that you can allocate your resources in the most effective way.

Meanwhile, our highly skilled, technical, and scientific specialists are equipped with the knowledge and expertise to act as a valuable sounding board during the development of your ideas and innovation approach, helping your teams to be confident that the solutions that are ultimately developed are as robust and fit-for-purpose as possible.

A multidisciplinary approach

Throughout each phase of the innovation process, we can offer integrated, multidisciplinary services to support your business, so that you can be confident that everything is considered to help you maximize ROI, minimize legal and tax liabilities, and go to market confident in the knowledge that your IP is fully protected.

No matter what stage you’re at, we can put you in touch with the right person. Our approach means that we can also offer broader support beyond innovation essentials, such ESG considerations or strategy. Through our teams, we can connect you with the right experts for your needs, from our network around the world, so that you’re never without support. This capability is a core strength of KPMG, both in Belgium and globally, and one we are proud to offer to our clients.

Our services

Our innovation and R&D service areas cover four broad categories, including:

   

Grants and Incentives

Before you launch your innovation project, we can help you identify the subsidies, grants, and incentives that are relevant to your business so that you can tailor your process accordingly and ensure alignment with your innovation strategy.

>  Discover our Grants & Incentives practice here.

Wage withholding tax exemption

The wage withholding tax exemption for research and development helps employers to reduce payroll costs, so that they can offer more attractive salary packages to recruit and retain the right talent for their innovation projects and activities. While it can be complex to navigate, our specialists can ensure you stay updated on the latest developments and eligibility criteria.

Copyright, patents, and IP protection

From the moment you employ someone to work on an innovation project, you may be eligible for tax reduction on part of their salary under the Belgian copyright scheme. We can also provide access to our global network of specialists so you can be confident you have the right patents in place, or other legal IP protection, wherever you in the world you need it.

Innovation income deduction (investment deduction and tax credit)

Once your R&D project/IP is generating turnover, it’s an ideal moment for your company to apply for the innovation income deduction (IID) regime. Under the IID, eligible companies can deduct up to 85% of their net innovation income from the taxable base. Our specialists can advise you on the criteria and the extent to which your organization may qualify.

Working in an integrated way

Integrating your innovation process, using a structured, multidisciplinary, 360° approach, can help you reduce risk and unlock untapped opportunities for your organization.

Visual representation of all the possible fiscal measures to support innovation and stimulate companies to invest in research & development

While our services complement each other and can be linked together, there is no obligation to do so. We can also provide specific services to help you with a particular challenge at any stage in your innovation process, or help you fill gaps in the expertise you already have in-house to strengthen your approach or broaden your access to opportunities.