R&D Tax ReliefsClaim support & advice

R&D Tax Relief is a generous incentive for innovative companies, currently worth around 21.5% of qualifying R&D expenditure for SMEs.

R&D Tax Reliefs are changing

Whether your company is big or small, old or new, or makes a profit or loss, you may be able to reduce your corporation tax bill or receive a payable cash credit. R&D Tax Relief is one of the most significant government-backed reliefs available today, but many companies do not realise they qualify.

  • From 1 April 2024 the new merged RDEC scheme replaced the SME scheme. This applies for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024 and will adopt the existing RDEC rate of 20%.
  • For loss-making entities and those with profits <£50k, the notional tax rate of 19% is applied, rather than the main rate of 25%. This means for most profit making companies the net tax saving is 15% of R&D expenditure (£15k for every £100k spent on R&D) and for loss makers it is 16.2% (or £16.2k for every £100k spent).
  • There is also a scheme for loss making only R&D intensive SME’s where their qualifying R&D expenditure accounts for 30% or more of total company expenditure. The R&D intensive scheme also applies to periods since 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 where the threshold was R&D expenditure of 40% or more of total company expenditure.  This scheme is similar to the SME scheme where R&D expenditure is enhanced by 86% (from 1 April 2023, 130% prior to that) and losses can be cashed in at 14.5%.

It’s really important you are aware of these new R&D schemes and depending on what accounting period you have, at which point you need to start making claims under the merged RDEC scheme or if the R&D intensive scheme might apply to you.

For further information about these changes and others, including changes to the rules on contracted R&D and overseas R&D costs, read our full Autum summary statement.

Scott burkinshaw of Shorts

Radius Services

  • NEW Merged Scheme
  • SME Scheme
  • RDEC Scheme
  • Patent Box
  • Support for Accountants
  • R&D Allowances

NEW Merged Scheme
R&D Tax Reliefs

Following the 2023 Autumn Statement, where the UK government announced that a new merged R&D tax relief scheme would replace the existing schemes, the new merged RDEC scheme came into effect on 1st April 2024.

Introducing the merged RDEC scheme brings new measures to understand the tax relief on R&D activities. It’s extremely important to make sure you are aware of the options available to you

SME Scheme

SME Scheme
R&D Tax Reliefs

The SME scheme is a valuable resource for smaller companies looking to invest in R&D and can provide generous tax savings for those who are eligible. It is currently worth around 21.5% of qualifying R&D expenditure.

 

RDEC Scheme

RDEC Scheme
R&D Tax Reliefs

The RDEC scheme allows larger eligible companies to claim a tax credit worth up to 20% of their qualifying R&D expenditure and a net tax saving of 15% (since 1 April 2023).

Patent Box

Patent Box
Tax Relief

HMRC’s Patent Box Scheme enables qualifying companies to pay a lower effective Corporation Tax rate of 10% of profits from patented products or processes.

Radius will lead you through this process with clarity, authority, and efficiency, quickly determining your eligibility to claim, and dealing with all relevant calculations.

Support for Accountants

Support for Accountants
R&D Tax Reliefs

With increasing levels of scrutiny and more compliance checks being exhibited by HMRC into R&D Tax Relief claims, Radius has also seen an increase in requests for consultancy work to provide advice and guidance to accountancy firms who have completed claims for their clients or provided advice.

The Radius team’s new area of support focused primarily on providing qualified, tailored advice and support to accountancy firms conducting R&D Tax Relief claims.

R&D Allowances

R&D Allowances

Research & Development Allowances (RDAs) are often overlooked, but are an extremely valuable relief. They provide 100% tax relief in the year of acquisition, for capital expenditure incurred for the provision of R&D facilities or expenditure on capital assets used by employees carrying out R&D. 

We strongly advise any company engaged in qualifying R&D activities to consider RDAs to ensure they are not missing out on this relief. 

NEW Merged Scheme

Who can apply for R&D Tax Relief?

In order to claim R&D Tax Relief, your activities must meet HMRC’s definition of R&D – however, this includes more than you may think.

  • Your project must firstly relate to your company trade, whether current or future.
  • Your project must have attempted to achieve an advance or an appreciable improvement in science or technology.
  • Your project must also have attempted to overcome technological or scientific uncertainty.
  • Your project may not have been easily worked out by a competent professional in the field.

It costs nothing to find out if you qualify, so check your eligibility today, or get in touch if you want to talk to an expert about your R&D activities.

Examples of qualifying R&D projects

  • Electronics company manufacturing innovative display equipment.
  • Software developers producing ground-breaking new software.
  • Steel heat treatment companies automating and refining processes.
  • Chemical manufacturers developing new compounds.
  • Engineering companies developing high performance components.
  • Animal feed manufacturer developing new health products.

These are just a handful of examples where we have helped companies claim R&D Tax Relief successfully. You can learn more about the wide range of activities, industries, and business types that we have helped in our free Case Study Guide.

 

Download the complete Case Study Guide

R&D Tax Reliefs done properly

Robust R&D Tax Relief claims, prepared and maximised by specialists with minimum disruption to you.

Maximum Value

Some firms have tax generalists preparing R&D Tax Relief and Patent Box claims. Our team are full-time specialists.

Our processes and proactive ethos ensure that we systematically consider every possible way in which claims can be maximised within legislative parameters.

This means that we are uniquely equipped to maximise your claims, often using creative solutions in conjunction with our tax and accounting colleagues.

Being part of Shorts enables us to offer broader, more comprehensive services than other R&D tax relief advisers with a narrower focus.

Maximum Reassurance

HMRC has started cracking down heavily on historic and current error strewn R&D Tax Relief claims.

Some R&D Tax Relief advisers aren’t suitably qualified to prepare robust claims or they push the boundaries way beyond what is eligible.

Radius claims are prepared by highly qualified and experienced professionals who specialise in R&D and Patent Box Tax Relief claims. We have detailed quality assurance processes to ensure claims are fully optimised and compliant. All claims are reviewed by an ex-HMRC R&D tax inspector before submission.

Radius is a division of Shorts Chartered Accountants, a regulated and award-winning firm of accountants with over 130 years of heritage of doing things properly.

This heritage drives our focus and pride in providing technically excellent claims.

Minimum Fuss

Our carefully structured, process driven approach aims to make preparing your company’s claim as easy as possible for you.

Wherever possible, we’ll interview your team and prepare the claim from their answers – they just need to talk to us. Where we do need financial and other information, we’ll try to ask for it all in one go and keep it to a minimum.

This is all intended to avoid your team having to try to interpret rules and explain why activities qualify.

THE RADIUS TEAM ARE ALL FULLY QUALIFIED R&D SPECIALISTS, NOT GENERALISTS, MEANING THEY ARE AT THE VERY FOREFRONT OF R&D TAX RELIEFS.

Meet the Radius team