1(1)A company (in this Part referred to as “the company”) is entitled to tax relief under this Part for an accounting period if—
(a)it is a large company throughout that period, and
(b)its qualifying R&D expenditure for that period is not less than—
(i)£25,000, if the accounting period is a period of 12 months, or
(ii)such amount as bears to £25,000 the same proportion as the accounting period bears to 12 months.
(2)For the purposes of this paragraph the company’s qualifying R&D expenditure is “for an accounting period” if it is deductible in computing for tax purposes the profits for that period of a trade carried on by the company (including expenditure that is so deductible by virtue of section 401 of the Taxes Act 1988).