Research & Development tax credits

For accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2021, the payable R&D Tax Credit for SMEs will be restricted to a maximum of:

• £20,000 plus,
• Three times the total PAYE and National Insurance liability of the company (and in some cases related companies) for the year.

The cap is proportionally reduced for short accounting periods.

The above cap is not applied where both:

• Its employees are creating, preparing to create, or managing Intellectual Property (IP); and
• It does not spend more than 15% of its qualifying R&D expenditure on subcontracting R&D to, or on the provision of externally provided workers by, connected persons.

IP is defined as:

(a) any patent, trademark, registered design, copyright, design right, performer’s right or plant breeder’s right; or

(b) any rights under the law of a country or territory outside the United Kingdom which correspond or are similar to those falling within paragraph (a);

Managing IP refers to:

formulating plans and making decisions in relation to the development or exploitation of the intellectual property.

Only IP that either the whole or the greater part has been created by the company qualifies for the exemption to the cap.