Finance Act 2024

Higher rate of payable credit for R&D-intensive SMEs from 1 April 2023

21 (1) Sub-paragraph (2) applies if, in an accounting period beginning before the appointed day but ending on or after 1 April 2023, a company—

(a) has a Chapter 2 surrenderable loss, and

(b) meets the R&D intensity condition.

(2) The amount of R&D tax credit to which the company is entitled for the period is to be determined as if the amendment made by section 4(3)(d) of FA 2023 (reduction in rate of credit from 14.5% to 10%) had not been made.

(3) Subsections (2) to (7) of section 1045ZA of CTA 2009, as inserted by paragraph 6(6), determine whether a company meets the R&D intensity condition in an accounting period for the purposes of sub-paragraph (1)(b).

(4) But subsections (2) and (3) of that section are to be read for the purposes of sub-paragraph (3) as if “40%” appeared instead of “30%”.

(5) In this paragraph, “Chapter 2 surrenderable loss” and “R&D tax credit” have the same meanings as in Chapter 2 of Part 13 of CTA 2009 (see sections 1054 and 1055 of that Act).