Northern Minerals (ASX: NTU) today advised that it has lodged its tax return and refundable Research and Development (R&D) tax offset claim with the Australia Taxation Office (ATO) for the 30 June 2020 financial year (FY2020).
The Company’s tax offset claim for the FY2020 is for $8.7 million of eligible R&D work.
Northern Minerals’ R&D activities are focused on the processing of heavy rare earth elements from hardrock xenotime ore at its Browns Range Pilot Plant in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia.
The Company announced on 24 August 2020 it had settled with the ATO on previously disputed tax offset claims for the financial years ended 30 June 2017 and 2018.
That settlement also agreed a refundable R&D tax offset for the financial year ended 30 June 2019 and provided a framework for calculating the refundable R&D tax offset claim for FY2020.
Northern Minerals submitted its 30 June 2020 R&D claim and tax return after market close on Friday 2 October 2020.
Northern Minerals CEO Mark Tory said: “We adopted the ATO’s recommendations for improving our internal R&D procedures with the aim of streamlining future claims, including for FY2020.
“We believe the R&D work now continuing at Browns Range, post COVID-19 disruptions, is providing valuable processing data that could underpin larger scale heavy rare earth developments in WA.”