Sam Stephens
Director
It’s that time of year again – HMRC have released their yearly R&D Tax Credit report, detailing the breakdown of the most recent years claims!
Over £35 billion has been spent by businesses all over the UK and identified as being eligible R&D expenditure for claiming R&D Tax Credits. This has resulted in over £5.3 million being paid out to the 57,335 businesses that have made a R&D Tax claim for financial year 2018-19; with the total value estimated to rise to £6.3 billion once all claims have been processed.
Let’s look at a breakdown of both the SME Scheme and RDEC Scheme statistics, looking at how many claims have been made, how much has been claimed and by which industry sectors!
59,265 claims have been made for Financial Year 2018-19 so far; 52,160 of those were made by SME’s into the SME Scheme, 3,310 were made by large companies into the RDEC Scheme, with an additional 3,790 SME claims made a via the RDEC Scheme.
The total amount of claims is due to rise as more claims are made during the 2-year retrospective claim period. In previous years, the number of claims has increased by 17%-20%, meaning the total claims for financial year 2018-19 could be around 70,000!
The £5.3 billion of R&D Tax benefit received is split between the same 3 categories:
Within the current statistics, the average claim for a SME Scheme claim is £57,000 – reflecting a similar average from the previous year.
Large enterprises claiming RDEC benefited £632,000 on average, while SME’s claiming under the RDEC scheme received £68,000.
The statistics show that there are 3 industry sectors that have made 67% of the R&D Tax Credit claims for 2018-19:
By claim value, these 3 industries have also claimed a huge 71% of the £5.3 billion tax relief.
Following the top 3, the next 4 largest claimant sectors are:
We’re thrilled to see that so many UK businesses, across a variety of sectors, are recognising the benefit of claiming R&D Tax Credits for the R&D they’ve performed and making the most of both schemes available.
We’re especially excited about the news that 10,200 of the businesses that have claimed for 2018-19 are new claimants, that’s 17.8% of all businesses that claimed!
As with previous years, the number of new claimants is expected to grow as more claims are made. It’s anticipated that the total will reflect the growth from previous years.
With an increasing number of businesses claiming R&D Tax Relief, year-on-year, which is expected to continue, now is the perfect time to check whether your company is also eligible to make a claim.
You can check how much your claim could be worth, by using our online R&D Tax Credit Calculator!
Alternatively, you can get in touch with us here, or using the form below.
When it comes to claiming R&D tax relief, many businesses in design-heavy industries often ask the same question: Can we claim for the cost of acquiring designs? While buying existing designs does not qualify for relief, the good news is that further work to modify, develop or improve those designs often does. If your business is undertaking technical design work as part of an innovation project, there may be significant relief available.
From 1 April 2026, all tax advisers, including those involved in R&D tax claims, must be registered with HMRC and meet new minimum standards to act on behalf of clients. This move is part of HMRC’s drive to raise professional standards, reduce fraud, and improve oversight within the tax advisory industry. Learn who will be affected by these changes and what at your business needs to do to stay compliant.
Assists organisations in accessing research and development grant funding across a range of UK and EU schemes and industry sectors.
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