To calculate indirect costs participants in FP7 projects have the following possibilities:

Participants with analytical accounting and a detailed cost allocation may use

• their actual real indirect costs for the individual project

Participants without analytical accounting but the ability to calculate their total overhead costs without being able to systematically allocate actual costs per project or department or person may use

• a simplified method, calculating overheads by percentages as per the organisation’s normal practice

Non-profit public bodies, secondary and higher education establishments, research organisations and SMEs without ananalytical accounting system may choose

• a flat rate for indirect costs amounting to 60% of all direct costs (excluding subcontracts) 
  (On June 15, 2009 the European Commission has decided to maintain the flat rate for indirect costs at 60 % until the end of FP7.

All participants, no matter which legal form or accounting system may use

• a flat rate for indirect costs amounting to 20% of all direct costs (excluding subcontracts)
• This flat rate is foreseen for organisations which are unable to identify with certainty their real indirect costs for the project.

For some project types the indirect costs will only be reimbursed using flat rates:

• 7% for Coordination and Support Actions (CSA)
• 20% for Frontier Research Actions (ERC)
• 20% for the Innovative Medicine Joint Undertaking (IMI) and Fuell Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH)

Furthermore the EU contribution to indirect costs may also have the form of a fixed amount contribution, e.g. Marie Curie Actions.