CIRD122200 | R&D Tax Reliefs: reformed reliefs: ERIS: calculation: amount of qualifying expenditure

Qualifying Chapter 2 expenditure is expenditure of an R&D-intensive loss-making SME (see CIRD123000) that is:

• Not attributable to an exempt foreign permanent establishment (CIRD190000)

• Revenue in nature (see CIRD81700, BIM35000)

• Allowable as a deduction in calculating the company’s profits chargeable to corporation tax for the period in which the claim is made. A deduction permitted by CTA09/S1308 is an allowable deduction (see CIRD81450)

  • Alternatively, pre-trading companies can make an election under CTA09/S1045, see CIRD122300.

• Incurred by the company on R&D activity for tax purposes (see CIRD81910) that is relevant to the company’s existing or intended trade (see CIRD81400)

  • For data and cloud computing costs (CIRD135000), companies can only include expenditure on direct R&D costs – not on qualifying indirect activities within the exhaustive list given at Para. 31 of the DSIT guidelines (CIRD81910)

• Not attributable to R&D contracted out to the claimant, unless the client is, or is treated as, an irrelievable client (see CIRD160000 and following)

• Within one of the qualifying costs categories (see CIRD130000)

• For contracted out R&D costs (see CIRD138000 and CIRD160000):

  • incurred on activity in the UK or exempt from the overseas restrictions in virtue of CTA09/S118A (see CIRD150000) or under the Northern Ireland regulations (see CIRD125000) and

  • restricted to 65% of payments to unconnected contractors (where connected parties or parties who have elected to be treated as connected are involved, more than 65% of payments to contractors may be claimable – see CIRD138000)

• For EPW costs, either:

  • incurred on EPWs whose earnings are, wholly or in part, subject to UK PAYE (see CIRD137000), or incurred on R&D activity based outside the UK for which the CTA09/S1138A exemption applies (see CIRD150000), or which is exempt from the overseas restrictions under the Northern Ireland regulations (see CIRD125000)
    and

  • restricted to 65% for unconnected EPW payments (where connected parties or parties who have elected to be treated as connected are involved, more than 65% of payments to EPW’s may be claimable – see CIRD137000)

• Where applying, not in excess of the limit on relevant net benefit under the Northern Ireland regulations (see CIRD125000)

• Paid before the claim is made (see CIRD132000)

Transitional provisions apply in certain circumstances, please see CIRD165000.