September 21, 2023

A Recap of Where We Are With R&D Tax

Ahead of the Autumn Statement (due to be delivered on 22 November) we take a look at the current state of affairs with Research and Development tax credits, as they are bound to be on Jeremy Hunt’s agenda again in November.

Research and Development (R&D) tax credits are a government incentive designed to reward UK companies for investing in innovation. They can provide valuable financial support for businesses that are developing new processes, products or services and the tax incentives can help to drive economic growth and competitiveness.

What has changed this year?

The R&D landscape continued to shift this year with multiple changes coming into effect from 1 April 2023. To recap, they included:

  • Introduction of further R&D tax relief support for R&D intense, loss-making SMEs (worth around £500 million per year).
  • R&D expenditure credit rate increased from 13% to 20%
  • SME additional deduction decreased from 130% to 86%
  • SME tax credit rate decreased from 14.5% to 10%

The most recent change was introduced from 1 August 2023. Businesses must now complete and submit an additional information form to HMRC before submitting their Corporation Tax Return. To comply, you will need to submit:

  • Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) (which must match your Company Tax Return)
  • Employer PAYE reference number
  • VAT registration number
  • Business type or your SIC code
  • The contact details for the main internal contact in the company who is responsible for the R&D claim
  • The contact details of any external agents involved in the R&D claim
  • Accounting period that you are claiming for (which must match your Company Tax Return)

This is all information that you should have to hand, but it is another procedural step which businesses must ensure is not overlooked, to avoid any delays or refusals of claims.

What can we expect from the Autumn Statement?

We cannot be certain of anything that will be announced on 22 November but given that we are heading towards an election, you would hope that it would include some nuggets of positivity.

In terms of R&D reliefs, HMRC published draft legislation in July 2023. The proposal is to merge the RDEC scheme with the SME scheme, creating one single R&D scheme for all companies. However, it was emphasised that there is no commitment to implement the new scheme, so it might be unlikely for this to be addressed in the Autumn Statement.

We will be sure to unpick any changes and new legislation following 22 November.

Specialist R&D Tax Experts

If you have any questions about claiming research and development tax credits, or would like to start a conversation with our expert team about how you can benefit from the available incentives, then please get in touch today. Call us on 020 3523 9125 or email us at info@bonhamandbrook.co.uk.

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