Projects certification is an instrument provided by public authorities aimed to incentivise with tax benefits the cost investments companies make regarding RDI activities (according to article 35 in Spanish Corporate Tax Law). Companies can request a reasoned report from the Spanish Ministry of Economy reflecting the RDI content of a given project. That report is binding for the Tax Administration and, therefore, provides the company with the necessary legal certainty when applying the deductions regarding its RDI expenses.

To request the reasoned report, the company must have a project evaluation technical and economic report certified by an ENAC-accredited body.

Regarding RDI activity of research staff, the accredited bodies certify that researchers participate exclusively and for their whole amount of working time in RDI activities. This may allow companies to obtain the reasoned report for the discount in social security contributions or tax deductions in corporate income tax for this kind of activity.

They allow companies and organisations, regardless of their size or the economic sector they carry out their activity in, to improve the management of resources aimed at innovation activities. The ability to innovate is both a resource that must be efficiently managed by companies and a business process aimed at organising and managing human, technical and economic resources.

ENAC-accredited bodies certify the innovative character of businesses, after what the Spanish Ministry of Economy will recognise those organisations through the official label “Innovative SMEs” and will include them in a registry created for this purpose. Thus, they may benefit from additional tax incentives to those described above. Both the contribution bonus and the application of the deduction regime for RDI activities on the same researcher are fully compatible.