A qualifying project is one where there is an advance (or an attempted advance) in a field of science or technology. This sounds quite restrictive, but in practice it could apply to any company and in any industry. The term “Science” is very broad and can include Computer Science, Food Science, Engineering, Medical / Clinical Research etc.

The company needs to have a systematic project in place, and the work which you are undertaking must be seeking to achieve an advance in science or technology, e.g. development a new product, process or service, or appreciably improving an existing one.

Generally, where a company has faced technical problems that have to be solved and there is no standard solution which could be utilised, then that is a good indicator that R&D activities are taking place.

As per the government definition, to qualify for R&D tax relief, your project must seek to:-

1. Extend overall knowledge or capability in a field of science or technology; or
2. Create a process, material, device, product or service which incorporates or represents an increase in overall knowledge or capability in a field of science or technology; or
3. Make an appreciable improvement to an existing process, material, device, product or service through scientific or technological changes; or
4. Use science or technology to duplicate the effect of an existing process, material, device, product or service in a new or appreciably improved way (e.g. a product that has exactly the same performance characteristics as existing models, but is built in a fundamentally different manner), will therefore be R&D.

For classic car restorers, qualifying R&D projects can include:-