R&D and patent box relief claims rise

HMRC’s latest statistics show a solid uptake of both R&D relief and patent box relief by companies.

For R&D tax credits:

·         claims increased by 19% in 2015/16 (26,255 claims as against 22,445 in 2014/15), with a 20% rise in the level of support provided (up by £470m to a total of £2.9bn); and

·         total R&D expenditure against which claims were made was £22.9bn in 2015/16, an increase of 4% over 2014/15.

For the patent box:

·         1,135 companies claimed relief with a total value of £651.9m in 2014/15, increasing from 828 companies and £365.5m relief in 2013/14 (the phase-in of the relief began in April 2013);

·         large companies, who made up just over a quarter of all those claiming, accounted for relief worth £616.6m, or 94.6% of the total;

·         most companies were in ‘manufacturing’ (615 or 54.2% of the total), with ‘wholesale & retail trade, repairs’ (220 or 19.4% of the total), making up the second largest group.