HMRC have released a new tool to check if a project includes activities that qualify as Research and Development (R&D) for tax purposes. The launch of the new tool comes in the same week that HMRC published R&D statistics for the 2023-24 tax year.
New Research and Development tool
HMRC say the tool will:
- Help you if you are new to R&D tax relief or if you need additional support.
- Give their view on whether a project involves R&D for tax purposes based on the information you provide.
The tool can be used to help you:
- Understand the key concepts around qualifying R&D projects.
- Check what information you need before making a claim.
- Check if your project involves R&D for tax purposes.
You will need a competent professional to answer some of the questions in the tool.
After you have used the tool, HMRC recommends that you:
- Save or print the result.
- Keep a record of the information you used to answer each question.
HMRC say that, provided the questions have been answered based on the facts of the project and you can clearly support and explain your answers, they are unlikely to disagree with the result.
If your project qualifies as R&D for tax purposes, this does not necessarily mean you can claim tax relief on all R&D related costs.
See Research & Development Tax Reliefs for more details on what qualifies and how to make a claim.
R&D statistics 2023-24
HMRC's recently published statistics for 2023-24 reveal that:
- Following the Recent changes to the SME and RDEC schemes, the amount of tax relief claimed through the SME scheme fell by 29% to £3.15bn and the amount of relief claimed through the RDEC scheme increased by 36%, to £4.41bn.
- The number of R&D tax credit claims are estimated to fall by 26% (31% under the SME scheme).
- There has been a 33% increase in the average claim value.
Useful guides on this topic
Research & Development Tax Reliefs
What is R&D Relief? How does it work? Why does the size of the company matter? What is sub-contracted R&D? How do I write an R&D Report?
External links
Check if a project includes activities that qualify as Research and Development for tax purposes
Research and Development Tax Credits Statistics: September 2025