Knowledgebank: How To Qualify

How to qualify for R&D Tax Relief

You may have heard about Research and Development tax relief. You also might know of companies that have benefited from the fund. Maybe you are a company owner and you’ve thought of looking into R&D tax relief but you are reluctant because you are unsure about whether you fit in or not.

Being uncertain about whether or not you qualify for R&D Tax relief may be the only thing keeping you from making a claim. Here we give you important information how to qualify for the fund.

R&D tax relief is a UK government incentive that is meant to offer support to both small and large companies who are active spenders on resources aimed at conducting research and development projects. For companies to qualify for this government incentive they need to meet certain minimums. These include;

You must be a registered company

There are generally two types of companies. They include large companies and small companies otherwise known as SMEs.

For one to be considered a large company,

• You should have a staff count of 500 and above
• An annual turnover of over £89 million
• Gross assets above £77 million

For one to be considered a small company, you should have lower thresholds than those described above.

Resource allocation

Companies spend money to fund numerous purposes. However, only money spent on specific purposes qualifies under the R&D tax relief. They include activities such as;

• Developing new processes, products or services
• Enhancing, improving or changing existing processes, products or services
• Involvement in research activities aimed at getting new knowledge
• Performing research and development activities aimed at finding alternative systems, materials, devices, processes, services or products

You are not working in conjunction with another company

The fund is directed at supporting innovation projects that were handled by one company preferably without help from outside. Working on research and development projects on behalf of other smaller companies as subcontractors may disqualify you from benefiting from the R&D tax relief.

You aren’t already benefiting from another form of grant or state funding

Small companies, in particular, have access to numerous government funds aimed at boosting their efforts. If you are already successfully signed up on a different platform and benefiting from it then you may be forced to take a back seat in favour of other companies who require financial help but aren’t yet beneficiaries of any other fund from the government.

Contact Us

Contact www.rdtaxcredit.org.uk to find out more about how to qualify for R&D Tax relief.
We have an experienced team of tax professionals who will patiently take you through everything you need to know and answer all your questions.
Simply fill in our online claim form to begin the process today.