Free calculator · 2026/27 rates
R&D Tax Credit Estimator
The 2024 merged R&D scheme gives a 20% above-the-line credit on qualifying expenditure. Loss-making R&D-intensive companies, where qualifying spend is 30% or more of total expenditure, can instead claim enhanced support (ERIS) worth roughly 27p per £1 of qualifying spend. Enter your spend categories and see your indicative credit and net benefit.
Ask an accountant about your figureR&D Tax Credit Estimator
The 2024 merged R&D scheme gives a 20% above-the-line credit on qualifying expenditure. Loss-making R&D-intensive companies, where qualifying spend is 30% or more of total expenditure, can instead claim enhanced support (ERIS) worth roughly 27p per £1 of qualifying spend. Enter your spend categories and see your indicative credit and net benefit.
All expenditure for the year. Used to test whether you meet the R&D intensive threshold.
Gross salary + employer NI + pension of staff doing qualifying R&D, apportioned by time.
UK subcontractor invoices for R&D work. HMRC caps your claim at 65% of this.
Materials, prototypes, items consumed in the R&D process.
SaaS licences and cloud compute (AWS, GCP, GPU rental) used specifically for R&D.
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Free R&D tax credits tool
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How the merged R&D scheme works
Since 1 April 2024 most UK companies use the merged scheme, which replaced both the old RDEC and the SME scheme. You claim a 20% above-the-line credit on qualifying expenditure. Because it's above-the-line, it reduces your taxable profit first. The net cash benefit after 25% corporation tax is typically around 15p per qualifying pound.
Loss-making R&D-intensive companies (where qualifying R&D spend is 30% or more of total expenditure) can instead use enhanced R&D intensive support (ERIS): an 86% enhanced deduction surrendered for a 14.5% payable credit, worth roughly 27p per qualifying pound, and because the credit is payable rather than taxable, there is no corporation tax haircut. The calculator tests the intensity ratio automatically.
Worked example: a software company spends £120,000 on staff time allocated to qualifying R&D, £40,000 on UK subcontractors (65% claimable = £26,000), £15,000 on consumables, and £25,000 on cloud compute, against total business expenditure of £800,000. Qualifying expenditure is £186,000. The R&D intensity ratio is 23.3% (£186,000 divided by £800,000), which is below the 30% ERIS threshold, so the standard merged-scheme rate of 20% applies. The gross above-the-line credit is £37,200. After the 25% corporation tax charge on the credit, the net benefit is £27,900, equivalent to approximately 15p for every qualifying pound spent.
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