R&D Tax Credit Estimator
Since the merged scheme came in for accounting periods on or after 1 April 2024, the headline relief rate for most claimants sits at roughly 16.2p in the pound. Drop your qualifying spend into the calculator to see your indicative claim, plus what the R&D-intensive enhanced rate would unlock if you qualify.
Your R&D spend (2025/26)
Enter the components of your R&D-qualifying expenditure. Only include staff time, subcontractor cost, consumables and software/cloud genuinely used for R&D activity.
All expenditure for the year. Used to test R&D intensity.
Gross salary + employer NI + pension of staff doing qualifying R&D, apportioned.
UK subcontractor invoices for R&D work. HMRC caps claim at 65% of this.
Materials, prototypes, items consumed in the R&D process.
SaaS licences, cloud compute (AWS, GCP), GPU rental used for R&D work.
Estimated R&D credit
Gross credit (above-the-line)
£37,200
Net benefit (after CT)
£27,900
Rate applied: 20% (standard merged scheme)
Qualifying expenditure: £186,000 (23.3% of total)
How the calculation works
- 1. Qualifying expenditure = staff R&D + 65% of subcontractors + consumables + software
- 2. Credit rate = 20% standard, or 27% if R&D spend is 40%+ of total expenditure
- 3. Gross credit = qualifying expenditure × credit rate
- 4. Net benefit = gross credit × (1 - 25% corporation tax) = the cash impact
Directional estimate only. Actual claims involve scoping, PAYE/NI cap (where applicable), apportionment of staff time, and specific qualifying-activity tests. Book a free call for a tailored assessment.
HMRC has tightened the gates. The good claims still pay.
Compliance check rates have climbed sharply since 2023, and weak claims are now actively disallowed. We prepare claims for software firms, advanced manufacturers, engineering practices, biotech start-ups and innovation-led professional services, with the technical narrative and cost methodology HMRC now expects. Send us your projects and we will tell you, honestly, whether the claim is worth pursuing.
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