R&D Evidence Checklist: What to Keep Throughout the Year
A practical, source-linked checklist for New Zealand RDTI activity records, experiments, time allocations and expenditure evidence.
Strong R&D records grow out of the work your team already does. Keep technical records and financial information connected throughout the year, so preparing your claim starts with an organised history.
This checklist brings together the main record categories in IRD's RDTI record-keeping guidance and the RDTI record-keeping tips. Guidance checked 22 October 2026.
1. Purpose and uncertainty
Describe the knowledge or improvement you sought, the scientific or technological uncertainty, and why available information could not resolve it. Preserve the research and project planning behind those decisions.
Source: IRD: activity records.
2. Investigation and results
Keep the proposed solution, method, actual work, results and conclusions. Include unsuccessful experiments: they help explain the investigation. Dated plans, test reports and project records provide useful supporting material.
Source: RDTI: examples of records.
3. Core and supporting activities
Identify each core activity and explain how the related supporting activities meet the required relationship to it. Make those connections clear in the project records.
Source: RDTI: supporting activity records.
4. People and time
Record who worked on each activity, the relevant period and the basis for allocating time. Connect allocations to wage records and distinguish other work.
Source: IRD: expenditure connections.
5. Costs and contractors
Retain invoices, contracts, payroll information and allocation workings. Link costs to eligible activities, separate non-R&D work and check the expenditure rules.
Source: IRD: expenditure and contractors.
6. Original project records
Keep the source material alongside summaries. Tickets, documents and test results can help explain the work; a reviewer should be able to follow their connection to the claimed costs.
Source: RDTI: combining project and finance records.
Start with a regular team check-in
Compliance helps your team maintain regular time allocations and work notes, with reporting by person and period. Establishing that routine reduces the work of reconstructing your records at year-end.
Eligibility depends on the underlying activities and expenditure. Use this checklist to organise supporting records with your adviser; it is a practical guide rather than an eligibility determination.