Autumn Budget: R&D Tax Relief to be Reformed

The Chancellor announced in his Autumn Budget that the R&D tax relief regime will be reformed.

The key changes:

• The scope of the regime will be extended to support modern research methods by including expenditure on data and cloud computing costs
• The relief will be refocused on innovation carried out in the UK, to discourage outsourcing R&D to offshore territories
• HMRC aim to target abuse of the system and improve compliance

These changes will take effect from April 2023.

Further details of these changes and the next steps will be announced later in the autumn.

What is R&D tax relief?

R&D tax reliefs are HMRC incentives created to encourage innovation and technological advances in the UK.

Am I eligible?

Many companies carry out eligible R&D activities without realising that this work qualifies for relief.

R&D tax incentives are not just for niche sectors – eligible companies can be in any sector, any size, and even be loss-making. A common misconception is that R&D incentives are only for those who undertake scientific research in a laboratory, but this is certainly not the case.

How we can help?

We have extensive experience of making successful R&D tax relief claims. If you would like to discuss whether your company may be eligible to claim R&D relief, please get in touch with us.

More from our tax experts

You can find all of our latest tax articles and tax resources here.

If you are looking for advice in a particular area, please get in touch with your usual Hawsons contact.

Alternatively, we offer all new clients a free initial meeting to have a discussion about their own personal circumstances – find out more or book your free initial meeting here. We have offices in Sheffield, Doncaster and Northampton.