Funding rates in Horizon 2020

A beneficiary receives a certain percentage of its total eligible costs, depending on the specific funding rate (see below).

The eligible costs of a Horizon 2020 project are made up of direct and indirect costs.

The direct costs such as personnel costs, travel costs or costs of goods and services, are directly linked to the project implementation. They are funded based on actual costs or at various fixed rates.

Indirect costs ("overheads"), however, such as office rent or operating costs, are not directly linked to the project but are nonetheless necessary for its implementation. These are funded at a flat rate of 25 percent of the direct eligible costs (minus certain costs, such as e.g. costs of subcontracting).

The funding rate for Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) and for Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) is 100 percent of the eligible costs for all organisation types.

The funding rate for Innovation Actions (IA) depends on the legal status of the organisation. The rate is 70 percent for profit-making legal entities and 100 percent for non-profit legal entities. A “non-profit legal entity” means a legal entity, which by its legal form is non-profit-making or which has a legal or statutory obligation not to distribute profits (see Guide of the EU Commission "Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment", pages 8-9).
 

Funding rates at a glance

For more information see ...

• the Annotated Grant Agreement (AGA), article 5.2.
• the factsheet of the EU-Commission "Rules under Horizon 2020"