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Introduction to R&D tax credits

Everything you need to know about the R&D tax credit scheme from HMRC.
A complete guide for new claimants.

What are R&D tax credits?

The UK government’s R&D tax credits scheme is designed to stimulate innovation in the UK economy. The program provides UK businesses with either a cash credit or corporation tax deduction to compensate for up to 27% of the cost of their research and development.

The R&D tax relief scheme is available to businesses in all sectors, as long as your activity counts as R&D. So, if you’re developing new products, services, or processes or modifying old ones, then you may be able to make a claim for tax relief.

corporation-tax-credits

Am I eligible to claim R&D tax credits?

R&D tax credits are available to limited companies in the UK that undertake research and development projects.

What counts as an R&D project is often debated amongst R&D claims advisors. At EmpowerRD, we apply the following four criteria to get an initial indication of whether a project could qualify as R&D or not.

new-or-improved-product

CRITERION 1 – New or improved product

If your business is developing a new or improved product, tool or service, you could be carrying out R&D. It’s also likely that you’ll be attempting to overcome an obstacle where there is no obvious solution. Two examples of qualifying projects could be:

The development of a new software product. Modifying your existing production line to increase productivity.

loss-mkaing-r&d-intensive-sme

CRITERION 2 – Scientific or technological advance

HMRC states that your specific project must have made an ‘advance in science or technology.’ It sounds impressive and grand, but actually, many projects generate an advance.

For example, if you looked at an off-the-shelf technology and instead built a bespoke application or machine to solve your problem, then that work will likely qualify as an advance.

The development of a new software product. Modifying your existing production line to increase productivity.

scientific-or-technological-challenge

CRITERION 3 – Scientific or technological challenge

To qualify for R&D tax credits, making a scientific or technological advance should be a challenge. That’s why HMRC need to see that your project encountered ‘scientific or technological uncertainties’ for it to qualify for R&D.

Two factors indicate that you faced a scientific or technological uncertainty:

1. The solution to your challenge was not readily available or within public information.

2. A skilled professional working in your industry cannot easily solve scientific or technological uncertainty.

competent-professional

CRITERION 4 – Requiring competent professionals

The R&D should be carried out by competent professionals as that indicates that the advance was challenging to achieve. An example of a competent professional could be an engineer, scientist or skilled craftsman.

While these criteria are an indication of eligibility there are other factors that will affect HMRC’s view. For more information about eligibility, try our eligibility assessment or get in touch with one of our team.

Which costs qualify for R&D tax credits?

While you may have undertaken activities that qualify as R&D, you’ll still need to know which costs can be claimed for.

Identifying R&D costs can be difficult, but the main ones you’ll likely claim for are:

Staff

The wages and some other staff costs associated with the employees undertaking R&D.

subcontractors

Subcontractors

Subcontractors and consultants are often involved with R&D. You can claim back part of their cost.

Consumables

Items that are used up by the R&D process like chemicals, building materials, heat, light and power.

EmpowerRD recommends

There are many more types of R&D costs that you can claim for. We recommend reading our qualifying costs guide before identifying your own costs.

When we reviewed a past claim for one of our clients we were able to identify three times more qualifying costs than their previous advisor had done. That example goes to show how difficult and complex the process of identifying costs is. Even traditional advisors make mistakes and undervalue a claim.

Get in touch to find out more

Speak with one of our R&D claims advisors

How much R&D tax credit can I claim?

The schemes return a % of the amount that your business has spent on R&D in its past financial year. The % that you can claim will largely depend on your company size and financial position.

Please note that the % of R&D tax credits you can claim has recently changed for accounting periods beginning on or after April 2023. In this guide, we will provide you with the updated rates and %, as well as the previous rates and percentages, to ensure you have all the necessary information.

Company Size

If you’re a company with fewer than 500 staff, and a turnover of under €100m or a balance sheet total under €86m, then you can likely claim through the SME scheme. If your company exceeds those limits then you should claim using the RDEC scheme. Read more about the differences in the schemes here.

Financial Positions

The amount of credit your receive through the SME scheme depends on your profitability. With the RDEC scheme, your profitability doesn’t affect the credit you’ll receive.

SME R&D Tax Relief Changes (Post-April 2023):

For accounting periods starting on or after April 2023, the rates for R&D tax credits changed, but what does this mean in practice?

  • Enhancement Rate: Decreased from 130% to 86%
  • Tax Credit Rate: Reduced from 14.5% to 10%

r&d-tax-credit-rates

 
 Company’s financial position:
  • Breaking Even: Now eligible for 8.6% relief, down from 18.85%.
  • Loss-Making: Relief reduced to 18.6% from 33.35%.
  • Profitable: Relief reduced from 24.7% to 21.5%

R&D-Intensive SMEs

There was also a new category for SMEs; these are called R&D-intensive SMEs.

  • Defined as companies with at least 40% (30% from 1 April 2024) of total expenditure on qualifying R&D.
  • Eligible for a higher payable R&D tax credit rate of 14.5%, receiving a cash credit of £27 for every £100 of R&D expenditure.

RDEC scheme changes:

  • Rate Increase: From 13% to 20%.
  • Calculation Example: For £1,000,000 of Total Qualifying R&D Expenditure, the gross credit amount would be £200,000, with a net claim value of £150,000 after accounting for the new corporation tax rate. Essentially, a 15% RDEC benefit.

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Retrospective claims:

Companies can retrospectively claim R&D tax credits for up to two years from their current financial year-end. This means that for accounting periods prior to April 2023, companies could still claim at the higher rates applicable before the changes. For instance, a loss-making SME could claim up to 33% for eligible R&D expenditures incurred before this date.

Exceptions

If your SME has received grant funding then it may mean you need to claim through the RDEC scheme. Although this depends on the nature of the grant. Read our in-depth guide to grant funding and R&D claims to find out more.

Claim Amount

In 2021-22 the average UK SME claim was £60,104 and RDEC claim was £252,000. Interested in finding out more about HMRC’s latest R&D tax credit statistics? Read here.

R&D tax credit rates in 2024

SME Scheme RDEC Scheme Merged Scheme
Time scale up to 31/03/2023 From 01/04/2023 up to 31/03/2023 From 01/04/2023 From 01/04/2024
Profit-making company 130% enhancement = 24.7% net benefit 86% enhancement = 21.5% net benefit RDEC rate 13% = 10.5% after tax RDEC rate 15% = between 14.7% - 16.2% after tax Rate 20% = between 14.7% - 16.2% after tax
Loss-making company R&D costs plus 130% enhancement = 230 x 14.5% rate = 33.4% credit R&D costs plus 86% enhancement = 186 x 10% rate = 18.6% credit 10.5% 15% 16.2%
Loss-making R&D intensive company NA R&D costs plus 86% uplift = 186% x 14.5% rate = 26.97% NA NA NA

How to make an R&D tax credit claim?

There are four ways to make a claim for R&D tax credits. Here we outline the costs and benefits of each.

Self-file

Methodology
Build and submit the claim yourself

Expertise
Requires R&D credit expertise in your business

Typical claim duration
Varies

Price
Varies

Suitable for claims
Up to £50k costs

Accountant

Methodology
Typically a pre-built template or questionnaire

Expertise
Low level of expertise

Typical claim duration
2-3 months

Price
Varies

Suitable for claims
Up to £50k costs

Traditional Advisor

Methodology
Phone interviews and email chains. Or an in-person business visit.

Expertise
Mixed levels of expertise

Typical claim duration
1-2 months

Price
10-33%

Suitable for claims
Varies

EmpowerRD

Methodology
Advisors available over phone, email and live chat. Online data collection 24/7.

Expertise
Ex-HMRC inspectors and senior R&D claims assessors

Typical claim duration
1-2 weeks

Price
5% or less

Suitable for claims
Over £50k costs

EmpowerRD recommends

We recommend using an accountant or self-filing if you’ve spent less than £50k on research & development in the past financial year. The government publishes a short guide for small companies to self-file.

If you’ve spent more than £50k, we recommend speaking with one of our advisors about your claim process. At that level and beyond, identifying your costs will become more complex, and HMRC will begin to apply more scrutiny to your claim.

Not just this, but the way you claim has also changed recently with the introduction of the additional information form in August 2023. This is a more detailed and complex way of claiming than most will be used to. In addition to this, first-time claimers now have to submit a claim notification form prior to submission to ensure their claim is valid.

It’s also worth noting that if this is your first time making a claim for research and development tax relief, then you can claim for your last two accounting periods.

How long does it take to receive the funds?

HMRC commit to a payout SLA of 28 days for both SME and RDEC claims.

However, this was moved to 40 days in June 2022 due to a surge in HMRC identifying fraudulent claims. While HMRC has not given a specific date, they are working to get back to the 28-day mark.

We also publish the most up-to-date payout estimates on our HMRC payouts status page.

R&D Advance Funding

If you want to avoid the uncertainty of not knowing when your money will arrive from HMRC, or if you need funds right away, we recommend choosing R&D advance funding.

With R&D advance funding you can receive up to 80% of your R&D tax relief up to 9 months before you file your claim, helping you plan your cash flow accordingly and reinvest the funds back into your business sooner.

To learn more about how R&D advance funding works, read our guide on R&D advance funding.

The benefits of R&D tax credits

We have seen businesses transformed by the research and development expenditure credit they receive. It often provides an essential stepping stone to promote further growth, investment and profitability.

The most recent study by the government indicates that for every £1 spent on the R&D tax credit claims, an additional £2 of R&D expenditure is generated in the economy. So the tax incentive continues to be a successful driver of UK competitiveness.

If you have any further questions about the scheme then be sure to check our FAQ here. Or get in touch with one of our advisors.

About EmpowerRD

We’ve radically improved the process of making an R&D tax credit claim.

At EmpowerRD we employ industry-leading R&D claims advisors and ex-HMRC inspectors to assess your claim and help you identify your costs, while also providing an intelligent online platform to help you to co-ordinate the claim amongst your team. Read about the benefits of using EmpowerRD in our case studies.

If you’re an SME and claiming back on more than £50k of costs, or you’re applying through the RDEC scheme, then it makes sense to use EmpowerRD for your claim.

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