UK R&D tax relief
R&D Tax Credits.
Built to stand up.
Your R&D claim should do more than calculate a number. It should identify the qualifying advance, explain the uncertainty, connect the work to eligible costs and leave a clear evidence trail. InnoFund brings tax, finance, technical and sector specialists into one expert-led process.
- 30-minute first conversation
- Multidisciplinary specialists
- Compliance-led review
Published proof
A track record clients can examine.
Track-record figures are published by InnoFund and describe historic UK performance, not a promise of outcome. Trustpilot rating and review count are independently published and may change.
For business owners
A valuable use of your time.
You have already invested time, expertise and money in solving difficult problems. An R&D claim is an opportunity to recover value from qualifying work—and put it towards the next stage of your business.
Your team knows the work. Our specialists lead the technical assessment, connect it to the financial records and prepare the claim. We keep your involvement focused, so you can keep running the business.
- Start with 30 minutes
- Tell us what you are developing. We assess whether there is a credible opportunity before you commit more time.
- A few focused hours
- For a straightforward project with good records, this may be enough to explain and document the work. More complex claims need more time.
- Build on existing records
- Project notes, test results, design revisions and cost records are the starting point. We identify any gaps.
- We do the detailed work
- Our specialists assess eligibility, reconcile qualifying costs and prepare the claim, keeping you informed throughout.
Why InnoFund
One claim. Several disciplines.
One accountable team.
R&D tax relief sits at the intersection of tax law, accounting records and science or technology. Treating it as a form-filling exercise leaves value and compliance exposed. Our model is designed around the judgement the claim actually requires.
Tax and finance
Numbers with a defensible basis.
Our financial specialists connect qualifying activity to the correct expenditure, reconcile the claim and consider how it fits the wider tax position.
Technical substance
The work explained by people who understand it.
Scientists, engineers and sector specialists help interrogate the advance, uncertainty, baseline and work undertaken.
Compliance
Challenge before submission.
We test project boundaries, evidence and cost assumptions before the claim reaches HMRC—not after questions arrive.
Commercial fit
Support shaped around your team.
Use a full-service engagement, collaborate with us or ask for an expert health check. We can also work alongside your existing accountant.
Professional judgement matters. We do not force every project into a claim. A clear “not qualifying” decision can be as valuable as identifying a strong opportunity.
What can qualify
The projects your finance system cannot identify on its own.
For tax purposes, R&D is about seeking an advance in overall science or technology and resolving uncertainty that a competent professional could not readily work out. The project does not have to succeed, but the advance, uncertainty and work must be evidenced.
Products and materials
Improving performance, durability, composition, tolerances, safety or manufacturability where the solution is uncertain.
Processes and production
Developing or adapting methods, tooling, automation, controls or scale-up to overcome technical constraints.
Software and systems
Resolving uncertainty in architecture, performance, integration, security, reliability or scalability—not routine configuration.
Science and formulation
Testing formulations, analytical methods, delivery mechanisms, biological performance or experimental protocols.
Energy and environment
Advancing efficiency, treatment, recovery, monitoring or lower-impact technologies where established practice is insufficient.
Unsuccessful routes
Abandoned prototypes and failed experiments can still be relevant when they form part of a genuine attempt to resolve uncertainty.
Qualifying expenditure
Connect the eligible activity to the right expenditure.
The claim follows the qualifying R&D—not the other way round. Once project boundaries are clear, we review the relevant cost categories, apportionments, payment conditions, contracting arrangements and any territorial restrictions.
For accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024, most companies claim through the merged R&D expenditure credit scheme. Enhanced R&D intensive support may apply to eligible loss-making R&D-intensive SMEs. Earlier periods follow different rules.
Staffing costs
Relevant salary or wages, employer National Insurance and pension contributions for employees directly engaged in qualifying R&D, apportioned where necessary.
Externally provided workers
Qualifying expenditure on agency or staff-provider workers, subject to the relationship, payment and location rules.
Contracted-out R&D
Payments for contracted R&D can qualify where the statutory conditions are met. Who decided or contemplated the R&D is commercially and technically important.
Software, data and cloud
Relevant software, data licences and cloud-computing costs used directly in qualifying R&D, with exclusions and apportionment considered.
Consumables
Materials, water, fuel and power consumed or transformed by the qualifying activity, excluding costs outside the statutory conditions.
Clinical trial participants
Relevant payments to subjects of qualifying clinical trials where the specific rules are satisfied.
Get a first view of your R&D opportunity.
Use our UK R&D Tax Calculator to explore a few ballpark spending figures, or choose the detailed version to build a briefing for your team. Name, email and company are required. The results are indicative estimates for discussion—not tax advice or confirmation of eligibility.
How we work
From first conversation to a claim you understand.
A clear process protects management time, makes evidence easier to find and gives directors visibility over the position being submitted.
- 01
Discover
Understand the business, accounting period, projects, current claim position and decision-makers.
- 02
Assess
Screen projects, establish the scientific or technological baseline and test the advance and uncertainties.
- 03
Evidence
Interview competent professionals and organise records that show the work, iterations, decisions and outcomes.
- 04
Quantify
Map costs to qualifying activities, apply the relevant scheme rules and reconcile the claim to the accounts.
- 05
Review and support
Challenge the complete position, prepare the filing information and remain available if HMRC asks questions.
Flexible support, consistent standards
Use us where specialist judgement adds the most value.
Some clients want one team to lead the full claim. Others have an established finance function or accountant and need targeted technical, financial or compliance support. The scope can change; the standard of judgement should not.
Most comprehensive
Full-service claim
We lead project discovery, technical assessment, evidence, cost analysis, review and filing support from start to finish.
Shared delivery
Collaborative claim
Divide the work around your internal team or existing accountant, with clear responsibilities and one joined-up position.
Independent challenge
Claim health check
Have an existing methodology, project set or completed claim reviewed for eligibility, evidence, cost treatment and risk.
When HMRC writes
HMRC enquiry and dispute resolution
Included with every full-service claim we prepare
If HMRC opens a compliance check or challenges the position, we stay with the claim: interpreting requests, coordinating technical and financial evidence, preparing responses and supporting formal dispute resolution. We can also take over enquiries where another adviser prepared the original claim.
The SecuRD® methodology
Capture the proof as the project develops.
SecuRD® is the evidence discipline behind our service, not a second claim process. It gives project and finance teams a practical way to retain the decisions, tests, failures and cost records that may otherwise disappear before year end.
When claim preparation begins, the evidence is already closer to the work and easier for competent professionals, finance teams and directors to review.
- Captured during delivery
- Shared across technical and finance teams
- Ready for a more efficient claim review
The people behind your claim
Meet the specialists trusted with the detail.
Tax, compliance, engineering, science and sector experience are brought together around the work. These are the people clients speak to—not names added after the claim is written.
Adam Jerreat
Senior Partner
R&D Tax Relief and Innovation Funding
Fatima Azzedine
Lead R&D Financial Consultant
R&D Tax and Financial Claims
Client experience
Trusted with commercially important claims.
Feedback from clients using InnoFund for R&D tax relief and related claim support.
I have used InnoFund for a couple of years to file our R&D accounts. They are extremely professional and proactive, and I will continue to use them for the foreseeable future. Fully recommend InnoFund.
We have had a very positive experience with innofund over the last few years of working with them. They are very responsive and happy to partake in regular catch-ups and go above and beyond to share any changes to the rules for applicable expenditure and find any further applicable items on top of those provided. There have been multiple visits to site and presentations to the wider business that have received positive feedback and driven buy in across the whole site. I would be more than happy to recommend them as top reliable and supportive consultants.
R&D tax relief, explained
Questions before you start.
A first conversation can establish which questions matter for your projects and accounting period.
Ask us about your claimWhich companies can claim UK R&D tax relief?
A company within the scope of UK Corporation Tax may be able to claim where it undertakes qualifying research and development and incurs eligible expenditure. The available scheme and treatment depend on the accounting period and the company’s circumstances.
What counts as R&D for tax purposes?
The project must seek an advance in overall science or technology and involve scientific or technological uncertainty that was not readily deducible by a competent professional. Routine improvement, commercial uncertainty and standard implementation are not enough on their own.
Does an R&D project have to succeed?
No. An unsuccessful or abandoned route can still contain qualifying R&D. The relevant questions are what advance was sought, what uncertainty existed and what work was undertaken to try to resolve it.
What costs can be included in an R&D tax claim?
Potential categories include qualifying staffing costs, externally provided workers, contracted-out R&D, software, data licences, cloud computing, consumables and certain clinical-trial participant payments. Eligibility, apportionment, payment and territorial conditions must be checked for the relevant period.
Can a company receive a grant and claim R&D tax relief?
Often, yes, but the interaction depends on the accounting period, scheme, funding terms and expenditure. We review the grant and the tax position together rather than assuming one prevents the other.
Can InnoFund work with our existing accountant?
Yes. We regularly provide the specialist technical, costing or compliance work while an existing accountant retains the wider tax relationship. Responsibilities and information flows are agreed at the start.
Can you review a claim prepared internally or by another adviser?
Yes. A health check can focus on project eligibility, technical narratives, cost treatment, evidence, process and HMRC-readiness. We will explain material issues and practical next steps.
What happens if HMRC opens a compliance check?
We can help interpret the request, organise the technical and financial evidence, prepare clear responses and manage the process. We also support enquiries and disputes where another adviser prepared the original claim.
Your next step
Start with 30 minutes.
See what’s possible.
You do not need a finished claim to start the conversation. Tell us about one or two projects and your accounting period. We will help you understand the potential, the records needed and the time your team would need to set aside.
- 30 minutesA focused first conversation
- Expert guidanceTechnical, tax and commercial context
- Commitment freeA clear next step, without obligation