Corporation Tax Act 2009

1082 R&D expenditure of group companies

(1) This section applies if—

(a) a company (“A”) incurs expenditure on making a payment to another company (“B”) in respect of activities contracted out by A to B,

(b) the activities would, if carried out by A, be research and development of A (taken together with A’s other activities), and

(c) A and B are members of the same group at the time the payment is made.

(2) If the activities are undertaken by B itself, they are to be treated for the purposes of Chapters 3 and 5 (so far as it would not otherwise be the case) as research and development undertaken by B itself.

(3) If B makes a payment to a third party (“C”), any of the activities—

(a) contracted out by B to C, and

(b) undertaken by C itself,

are to be treated for the purposes of Chapters 3 and 5 (so far as it would not otherwise be the case) as research and development contracted out by B to C.

(4) For the purposes of this section A and B are members of the same group if they are members of the same group of companies for the purposes of Chapter 4 of Part 10 of ICTA (group relief).