Zest R&D Tax Blog

HMRC’s R&D tax credit statistics 2026 show SME claims down 19% even as total relief rises — what’s behind the fall and what it means for your claim.

How does the Patent Box work? A plain-English guide to the 10% Corporation Tax rate on patent profits — eligibility, the development condition, the R&D nexus, how to elect, and a worked example.

The Chancellor will deliver the Autumn Budget 2026 on Wednesday 28 October. For any UK company running an R&D tax relief claim — or planning its first — it is worth knowing what is genuinely on the table before the red box opens, and what is simply noise. The short version: after three years of near-constant reform, the R&D regime is finally settling. Most of what matters for your next claim is already law. But a Budget always carries the risk of a technical tweak, and there are a few signals worth tracking. Where the R&D rules stand going into the Budget The big structural change is done. The merged RDEC scheme is now the default for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024, replacing the old separate SME and RDEC regimes. It gives a taxable expenditure credit of 20% of qualifying R&D costs — worth roughly 15% net once Corporation Tax at 25% is applied. Loss-making, R&D-intensive SMEs are the exception. If your qualifying R&D is at least 30% of total expenditure, you may instead claim under Enhanced R&D Intensive Support (ERIS), which offers a more generous deduction and a payable credit for surrenderable losses. None of […]

R&D tax relief for life sciences companies: what qualifies, clinical trial and overseas costs, why biotech firms suit ERIS, and what HMRC will challenge.

R&D tax relief for manufacturing companies: which projects and costs qualify, the prototype trap, how the merged scheme and ERIS work, and how to claim.

R&D tax relief for software & SaaS companies: what qualifies, what HMRC treats as routine, and which costs (including cloud) you can claim.