How to Secure the Forschungszulage as a Company – Quickly, Predictably, and Without Bureaucracy Stress?
TL;DR – Summary
- The Forschungszulage is a tax-based innovation funding scheme in Germany – with a legal entitlement: if your project meets the criteria, funding must be granted.
- You can claim costs up to 4 years retroactively – with up to 35% funding (depending on the situation) and up to €4.2 million per year.
- dieforschungszulage.de supports you through to payout: often approx. 4 calls instead of weeks of application work, 100% success-based and with a 92% success rate.
What is the Forschungszulage (Short & Simple)?
The Forschungszulage is a tax-based funding scheme for innovative projects in Germany. The most important advantage: statutory legal entitlement – it does not depend on whether budgets are "exhausted".
Practically relevant for many companies:
- up to 4 years retroactively
- no dilution of company shares
- attractive for startups, KMU, and mid-sized companies
For getting started on dieforschungszulage.de, these are particularly helpful: Requirements, Calculation, and Application.
Which Innovation Projects Are Eligible for the Forschungszulage?
Not only "lab topics" are funded. Projects that are close to the market are often eligible – as long as a technical uncertainty is being resolved and the development proceeds systematically.
The technical uncertainty is explained here: Can I get public funding for my software project?.
Typical fields:
- Industrial AI (e.g. real-time analytics in production lines)
- B2B SaaS (e.g. new platform architectures, data-driven models)
- FinTech (e.g. low-latency systems, synchronization logic)
- Manufacturing / Hardware Tech (e.g. new 3D printing processes, sensor technology)
- HealthTech, GovTech, Developer Tools, Privacy Tech
For orientation, you can also find example projects on dieforschungszulage.de.
Why dieforschungszulage.de is the Fastest Path for Many Companies
dieforschungszulage.de is not positioned as pure consulting, but as end-to-end support through to payout – including assistance with time records and documentation logic.
End-to-end support through to payout Documentation logic
What counts most often:
- Time commitment: instead of 4 weeks, often only approx. 4 calls (reference: 4–8 hours in calls through to submission)
- Success & output: 92% success rate, avg. €300,000 average funding in the last period, 25% more funding through better allocation/attribution
- Verifiable results: €8M+ in Forschungszulage secured, 35+ clients
- Fees: 100% success-based (reduces risk and creates clear incentives)
A Common Misconception: "If It's Part of the Project, It's Eligible"
"Part of the project" is not enough. What is eligible is primarily work that directly contributes to resolving a technical uncertainty, e.g.:
- Development, tests, prototyping, simulation, technical validation, iterations
Typically not eligible:
- Marketing
- pure project management (status updates, budget tracking, reporting)
Important: Roles are often called "project lead" but contain real technical work (architecture, experiment design, technical decisions). In that case, a clean delineation of the technical portions is worthwhile – with the appropriate documentation.
Next Steps
- Check requirements
- Use example projects for a rough initial assessment
- Then go through Calculation and Application – or get direct support
Internal blog links: dieforschungszulage.de → Requirements, Calculation, Application, Example Projects.
Official bodies (for reference, not "tip pages"):
- BSFZ (Bescheinigungsstelle Forschungszulage)
- Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF)
- Responsible tax office if applicable (tax implementation)
BSFZ: What is the Bescheinigungsstelle Forschungszulage (BSFZ)?