Forschungszulage Stats 2026: Verified Facts on Germany's Research Allowance

The Forschungszulage is Germany's tax-based research incentive, introduced by the Forschungszulagengesetz (FZulG). It is a tax credit rather than a grant: companies claim a percentage of their eligible R&D costs, and the amount is offset against income or corporation tax.

Claiming runs through two separate bodies. The BSFZ, the certifying office, rules on whether a project qualifies as R&D. The tax office then calculates and awards the money.

• 16 September 2020 is the date the BSFZ opened for certificate applications, roughly nine months after the underlying expenses first became eligible.
• 26,042 companies had filed at least one application with the BSFZ by 30 June 2026.
• 63,718 R&D projects had been submitted to the BSFZ for certification by 30 June 2026.
• Quarterly is the update cycle for the BSFZ's published application figures.

Source for all statistics above: Statistiken zur Nutzung der Forschungszulage, Bescheinigungsstelle Forschungszulage

Note the two different units. A company that files in three consecutive years counts once in the company total but three times in the annual application counts below.

Forschungszulage funding trends: how fast is take-up growing?

Annual application volumes are the clearest signal of momentum. The Federal Government reported them to the Bundestag in May 2026, covering the three years around the 2024 reform.

• 8,361 applications for a Forschungszulage certificate were filed in 2023.
• 11,717 applications were filed in 2024, the year the Wachstumschancengesetz, Germany's growth opportunities act, took effect.
• 14,553 applications were filed in 2025.
• The Federal Government stated in May 2026 that the effects of the Wachstumschancengesetz on Forschungszulage take-up could not yet be conclusively assessed, because certificate applications can be filed retroactively for up to four years.
• A scientific evaluation of the first five years of the Forschungszulagengesetz has been commissioned by the Federal Government, which will report the results to the Bundestag.

Source for all statistics above: Bundestagsdrucksache 21/5841, Deutscher Bundestag

The four-year retroactive window matters for anyone reading these numbers as a trend. Each year's figure is provisional and will rise as late claims arrive.

Who claims the research allowance: company size

The Forschungszulage is open to companies of any size, but SMEs dominate the application flow and their share has widened each year.

• 74% of Forschungszulage applications came from SMEs in 2023.
• 75% of Forschungszulage applications came from SMEs in 2024.
• 77% of Forschungszulage applications came from SMEs in 2025, with large enterprises accounting for the remaining 23%. (Source: Bundestagsdrucksache 21/5841, Deutscher Bundestag)
• Fewer than 250 employees plus either annual turnover of at most EUR 50 million or a balance sheet total of at most EUR 43 million is the SME test applied, following Annex I of the EU General Block Exemption Regulation. (Source: Wachstumschancengesetz, Bescheinigungsstelle Forschungszulage)

Sources: Bundestagsdrucksache 21/5841, Deutscher Bundestag; Wachstumschancengesetz, Bescheinigungsstelle Forschungszulage

Germany research allowance stats by sector

Sector concentration is the most striking pattern in the data. Two sectors alone account for roughly a third of all applications, and the top ten cover about two-thirds. All figures below are shares of applications filed, not shares of money awarded.

• 17.5% of Forschungszulage applications in 2025 came from IT services, the largest single sector.
• Mechanical engineering sat just behind on 17.1% of the 2025 applications, second by a narrow margin.
• Manufacturers of data processing equipment and electronic and optical products made up 5.4% of the 2025 applications.
• Chemical products manufacturing follows with 4.9% of the applications filed in 2025.
• Metal products manufacturing takes 4.5%, measured on the same 2025 basis.
• A further 4.5% of the 2025 applications came from manufacturers of other goods.
• Independent research and development service providers filed 4.2% of the 2025 applications.
• Electrical equipment manufacturing accounts for 4.1% of the 2025 applications.
• Information services contributed 3.9% in 2025.
• 2.7% of applications in 2025 came from motor vehicle and parts manufacturing, up from 1.9% in 2024.

Source for all statistics above: Bundestagsdrucksache 21/5841, Deutscher Bundestag

Top ten sectors by share of Forschungszulage applications

Source: Bundestagsdrucksache 21/5841, Deutscher Bundestag

How much is the Forschungszulage worth? Rates and caps

The headline rate has never changed. What has changed, repeatedly, is the ceiling on the assessment base (the pool of eligible costs the rate is applied to). That ceiling has risen six-fold since 2020.

• 25% of the assessment base is the standard Forschungszulage rate.
• 35% is available to SMEs, which can apply for an extra ten percentage points for activities performed after 27 March 2024.
• EUR 2 million was the maximum annual assessment base for expenses incurred after 31 December 2019 and before 1 July 2020.
• EUR 4 million was the ceiling that applied to expenses incurred after 30 June 2020 and before 28 March 2024.
• EUR 10 million became the annual maximum for expenses incurred after 27 March 2024 and before 1 January 2026.
• EUR 12 million is the maximum annual assessment base for expenses incurred after 31 December 2025.
• EUR 15 million is the ceiling on total state aid per company for a single R&D project under section 4(3) FZulG, regardless of research category. (Source: Bundestagsdrucksache 21/5841, Deutscher Bundestag)
• Group-wide is how the assessment base ceiling applies: affiliated companies share a single annual cap rather than each claiming their own, and that has been the rule since the programme began. (Source: section 3(6) FZulG)

Sources: Steuerliches Investitionssofortprogramm and Wachstumschancengesetz, Bescheinigungsstelle Forschungszulage; Bundestagsdrucksache 21/5841, Deutscher Bundestag

What counts as an eligible cost

Two reform waves widened the cost base: the Wachstumschancengesetz of March 2024 and the Investitionssofortprogramm, the immediate investment programme, promulgated on 18 July 2025. Each change carries its own cut-off date, and the trigger differs between rules.

• EUR 40 per hour was the original flat rate for a sole trader's or partner's own R&D work, capped at 40 working hours per week.
• EUR 70 per hour applied to own-work activities begun or performed after 27 March 2024.
• EUR 100 per hour applies to own-work activities begun or performed after 31 December 2025, even where the project itself started earlier.
• 60% of contract research costs counted towards the assessment base for contracts placed before 28 March 2024.
• 70% of contract research costs count for contracts placed after 27 March 2024.
• 20% of all other eligible expenses incurred in the fiscal year can be claimed as flat-rate overheads and operating costs, for projects beginning after 31 December 2025.
• Fiscal years beginning after 31 December 2023 are the first in which depreciation on movable fixed assets can be counted, provided the asset was acquired after 27 March 2024 and is used exclusively for the certified project.
• Acquired after 30 June 2025 and before 1 January 2028 is the window in which movable fixed assets qualify for declining-balance depreciation under the amended section 7 EStG, which can also be used in the Forschungszulage claim.

Sources: Wachstumschancengesetz and Steuerliches Investitionssofortprogramm, Bescheinigungsstelle Forschungszulage

The differing triggers are a common source of error. The EUR 12 million cap keys off when the expense arises, the EUR 100 hourly rate off when the work is performed, the contract research share off when the contract is placed, and the 20% overhead flat rate off when the project begins.

How the Forschungszulage sits inside EU state aid limits

The Forschungszulage operates under the EU General Block Exemption Regulation, which sets maximum aid intensities well above the German rate for some research categories and exactly at it for others. The Federal Government set out the comparison in May 2026.

• 100%, 50% and 25% are the maximum GBER aid intensities for basic research, industrial research and experimental development respectively.
• Ten percentage points for medium-sized and twenty for small enterprises may be added to those GBER intensities.
• EUR 55 million, EUR 35 million and EUR 25 million per company per project are the GBER aid ceilings for basic research, industrial research and experimental development.
• Cumulation with other aid is excluded for Forschungszulage projects classed as experimental development, because the 25% rate already exhausts the permitted GBER intensity.
• Building and land costs are the only GBER-eligible cost category not covered by the Forschungszulage; feasibility studies are also deliberately excluded.

Source for all statistics above: Bundestagsdrucksache 21/5841, Deutscher Bundestag

That last point explains a common planning mistake. A project classified as experimental development cannot stack the Forschungszulage on top of a grant covering the same costs.

Germany's wider R&D and innovation picture

The Forschungszulage is one instrument inside a much larger system. Germany's total R&D spending, its EU funding take, and its patent output give the context in which take-up numbers should be read.

National R&D spending

• EUR 137.1 billion was spent on research and development in Germany in 2024, up 3.8% on 2023.
• 3.17% of GDP went to R&D in 2024, the highest share since the time series began in 1995, up from 3.13% in 2023.
• 3.5% of GDP by 2025 is Germany's national R&D target, which had not been reached as of the 2024 data.
• EUR 92.5 billion of German R&D spending in 2024 came from companies, up 2.3% and more than two-thirds of the national total.
• EUR 24.1 billion of the national total went to R&D at German higher education institutions in 2024, up 4.7%.
• Non-university research institutions spent EUR 20.4 billion on R&D in 2024, an above-average increase of 10.1%.

Source for all statistics above: Pressemitteilung Nr. 107 of 27 March 2026, Statistisches Bundesamt

EU funding won by German organisations

• EUR 8.22 billion in Horizon Europe funding had been won by beneficiaries based in Germany since 2021, as of January 2026.
• EUR 251.8 million of that German Horizon Europe total came through the EIC Accelerator funding line.
• EUR 544 million in equity investment had been approved for German companies through the EIC Fund since 2021.

Source for all statistics above: Bundestagsdrucksache 21/5841, Deutscher Bundestag

Patent activity

• 42,349 domestic patent applications were filed at the German Patent and Trade Mark Office in 2025, up from 37,206 in 2022.
• 68% of all patent applications at the German Patent and Trade Mark Office came from Germany in 2025, down from 83% in 2000.
• 13% of European Patent Office applications came from Germany in 2025, down from 20% in 2000, even though the absolute number rose from about 20,100 to about 25,000.

Source for all statistics above: Bundestagsdrucksache 21/5841, Deutscher Bundestag