We now have support for Visual Studio 2013 with NAV 2013 R2 when designing reports.
Apply this hotfix:https://mbs2.microsoft.com/Knowledgebase/KBDisplay.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2907585, and you will then open your layout in Visual Studio 2013 if installed.
Why can we use Visual Studio 2013? Because it also supports RDLC 2010 supported in NAV 2013 R2. Here is a small overview of the different RDLC versions and NAV versions and Visual Studio versions:
RDLC 2010 = NAV 2013 R2 = Visual Studio 2013 Pro(New), Visual Studio 2012 Pro or Report Builder 3.0
RDLC 2008 = NAV 2013 = Visual Studio 2010 Pro, or Express using this tip here
RDLC 2005 = NAV 2009 = Visual Studio 2008, read more here. Do not use VS2005
Not a single of the bugs introduced in Visual Studio 2012, which I know of, has been fixed, except the possibility to use the LEFT ARROW key in expressions. In Visual Studio 2012 this is not possible. Now with Visual Studio 2013 we can now use the LEFT ARROW key. So if this is driving you crazy, go and apply above hotfix and start designing you R2 reports in Visual Studio 2013.
/Thanks, Claus Lundstrøm, MVP for Microsoft Dynamics NAV
clauslblog 
What about NAV 2009 r2? Visual Studio
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For NAV 2009, read this blog post:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/nav/archive/2009/01/13/what-are-the-visual-studio-options-for-developing-rdlc-reports-for-dynamics-nav-2009.aspx
Yes it is a very old blog post, but still valid for NAV 2009 R2.
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Will visual studio express 2013 work with NAV2013 R2?
I’m now confused if any version of express works with NAV2013 R2.
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The only free version for designing reports in NAV 2013 R2 is ReportBuilder installed with NAV 2013 R2. I have tried all, and this is the only free version supported.
So any Express version, being VS 2012 or VS 2013 will not Work. You are required to use Pro version or better.
/Claus Lundstrøm
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