R&D Tax Relief
This course has been updated for 2025/26. Explore how R&D relief works for both the pre-1 April 2024 regime and the new merged scheme that applies to accounting periods starting on or after that date. Learn to assess whether R&D is taking place, determine qualifying costs, and calculate and prepare successful claims for R&D relief on behalf of your clients.
This course will enable you to
- Understand how each scheme works, what the benefits are, who is eligible and how much can be claimed
- Identify when qualifying R&D is taking place
- Compile an R&D cost breakdown, avoiding common pitfalls
- Calculate SME R&D tax relief and tax credit claim amounts
- Calculate R&D relief under the new merged scheme and the enhanced R&D-intensive support
- Know what to do when there is a change to a claim rate
- Make and prepare a successful claim under each scheme
About the course
The UK's R&D tax relief schemes provide an incentive and support, in the form of corporation tax savings and tax credit payments, to companies carrying out innovative projects in science and technology.
Do you know how to judge whether your company or client is eligible for R&D tax relief, and if so how to go about making a successful claim? If you can get to grips with the schemes, you could significantly reduce your business or client's tax liability or even generate a cash payment.
The R&D tax relief scheme is changing, for accounting periods starting on or before 1 April 2024, so here we look at the details of the new merged scheme, as well as the SME R&D relief, which is still valid for claims relating to accounting periods starting on or before 1 April 2024.
This course has been updated for 2024/25.
Look inside
Contents
- Overview of R&D tax reliefs
- R&D tax reliefs
- The benefits
- Stats on the schemes
- The right scheme for you
- Eligibility
- Current claim rates
- Qualifying projects and activities
- Defining R&D
- Science and technology
- Advance
- Uncertainty
- R&D examples
- Important people to involve
- Competent professional
- Qualifying activities
- Identifying qualifying projects and activities
- Qualifying costs
- Claimable costs
- Staff and other key costs
- Contracted work
- Cost breakdown
- What can go wrong?
- Common pitfalls
- SME R&D tax relief and tax credits
- Making a calculation
- Calculation steps
- Applying the right rates
- Enhancement and tax credit rate changes
- Merged scheme and R&D-intensive support
- Overview
- Relief under the merged scheme
- PAYE cap
- R&D-intensive SMEs
- Preparing claims
- Key SME qualification checks
- Making and preparing a claim
- What to include in a claim
- Technical justification
- Cost breakdown summary
- Successful claims
- Responses from HMRC
- HMRC compliance checks
How it works
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| Access to this course | ||||
| Total CPD unitshourshours | 4 unitshourshours | 21 units20 hours21 hours | 1,500+ unitshourshours | 1,500+ unitshourshours |
| Access period | 120 days | 120 days | 12 months | 12+ months |
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| Immediate access to our entire CPD catalogue | ||||
| Monthly webinars, 15-minute CPD Bites, video interviews with industry leaders, and more! | ||||
| Account manager on hand to support your team’s needs | ||||
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