R&D tax credits for jobs not utilised

WHILE two-thirds of technology firms in Ireland have said they are seeking to hire staff in 2011, some companies may not be fully utilising R&D tax credit incentives that may be used to hire additional key employees.

According to the Mazars R&D Tax Group Job Creation Survey, 41% of companies are looking for employees with postgraduate qualifications.

The survey also found that 77% of companies intend to take on more employees in 2012, with over half indicating they would hire more staff if R&D tax credit incentives could be used to finance the cost of taking on new employees. However, 42% of technology companies are not aware that R&D tax credit incentives can assist in hiring key new staff.