WHO CAN CLAIM RDEC?

Research and Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC) is typically claimed by large companies. Other factors such as having received grant funding and carrying out R&D work for a large company can restrict access to the SME scheme.

RDEC is available if you are a large company for R&D purposes with:

• more than 500 staff
• a turnover of more than €100m or a balance sheet total more than €86m

R&D FOR SMEs vs RDEC

The main difference between R&D for SMEs and the Large company scheme (RDEC) is the costs which qualify under the RDEC scheme. Subcontracted expenditure cannot be claimed unless it has been directly undertaken by a scientific research organisation i.e. a charity, university, or an individual.

HOW THE NUMBERS WORK

An RDEC claim is a taxable ‘above-the-line’ credit of 12% of the qualifying expenditure identified. This is subject to corporation tax at 19%, and is calculated as a deduction from your tax bill. If there is no tax payable, the net amount can be claimed as a cash credit.

A company has identified £100,000 of qualifying expenditure incurred on its R&D project.

The net RDEC amount claimable as a credit is calculated as follows.

Above the line credit: £100,000 x 12% = £12,000

Net RDEC amount claimable: £12,000 – (£12,000 x 19%) = £9,720

After tax benefit: £9,720 / £100,000 = 9.72%