Bionomics boon from R&D Tax Incentive

Bionomics (ASX:BNO) is in for a higher than expected R&D Tax Incentive refund for FY12, and has been cleared to start claiming some overseas expenses from FY13.

Announcing the filing of its tax return with AusIndustry, the company said it anticipates receiving a $4.2 million refund for FY12 - significantly more than the $3.1 million it had been expecting while composing its annual report.

AusIndustry has also agreed to allow Bionomics to claim overseas expenditure under the tax incentive scheme going forward.

The expenditure is related to the clinical trials of its BNC105 cancer drug in Australia, the USA, Singapore and New Zealand, as well as overseas R&D into Alzheimers drug candidate BNC375, which is headed for clinical trials.

The total expenditure is $8.9 million over a three year period from July 2011.

AusIndustry's advance findings guarantee that Bionomics will be able to claim at least a $2.8 million rebate in FY13.

CEO Deborah Rathjen said she expects the figure to be significantly higher, once domestic expenditure is accounted for. The company is also planning to make submissions under the scheme covering more of its research programs.

While the R&D Tax Incentive came close to being cut back in 2012, Rathjen said funds from the program are "very meaningful for companies that are R&D intensive."

Bionomics (ASX:BNO) shares were trading 4% higher at 40c as of around 2:30pm on Tuesday.