R&D Tax Credits – What Are They & How to Claim?

R&D Tax Relief for UK Businesses

Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credits, also known as R&D Tax Relief, are UK government incentives designed to encourage innovation. They can reduce your company’s Corporation Tax bill or provide a cash payment for loss-making businesses, offering significant financial support. Depending on your company’s size, R&D intensity, and accounting period, the benefit can range from 10% up to nearly 27% of your qualifying R&D expenditure. In fact, even if your company is not yet profitable, you can receive a payable credit, which can be a vital lifeline for startups and R&D-intensive firms.

FI Group UK is a leading R&D tax consultancy dedicated to helping businesses unlock these incentives. With over 34 offices worldwide, 1,400+ staff, and 15,000 clients, FI Group has secured more than £1.7 billion in R&D funding for companies globally. Our expert teams around the world bring nearly 20+ years of experience in navigating R&D tax relief schemes since their inception in 2000. We offer a professional, end-to-end service to ensure your innovation is rewarded while you remain focused on your core business.

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All Your R&D Tax Credit Questions

Understanding R&D tax incentives can be complex, particularly with evolving HMRC guidance and recent scheme changes. To help clarify the process, we’ve compiled answers to the most common questions we receive from businesses across the UK. Whether you’re claiming for the first time or looking to optimise an existing claim, this section provides practical, up-to-date insights based on FI Group’s extensive experience.

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International R&D Tax Incentives Guide 2025

Maximise Innovation Funding Across 20+ Countriesm

R&D tax relief isn’t just local. Governments around the world are competing to reward innovation. Whether you’re expanding internationally or already managing multi-country claims, our 2025 guide is your essential resource for navigating global R&D incentives.

Download your free copy of the International R&D Tax Incentives Guide 2025 and discover which tax credits, deductions, and rebates your business could be missing.

Download the Guide

International R&D Tax Incentives Guide 2025

Maximise Innovation Funding Across 20+ Countriesm

Download your free copy of the International R&D Tax Incentives Guide 2025 and discover which tax credits, deductions, and rebates your business could be missing.

Download the Guide

Our R&D Tax Credit Claim Process

FI Group’s end-to-end approach covers:

Initial Consultation: We assess eligibility and help you understand your potential benefit.
Technical & Financial Data Gathering: Our experts interview staff and extract financial information.
Documentation & Submission: We prepare your full technical report and financial calculations.
HMRC Liaison: We file your claim and handle any communication or follow-up.
Ongoing Support: We provide post-claim assistance, guidance for future claims, and help you prepare for potential HMRC audits.

R&D Tax Credit Claim Process

Our R&D Tax Credit Claim Process

FI Group’s end-to-end approach covers:

Initial Consultation: We assess eligibility and help you understand your potential benefit.
Technical & Financial Data Gathering: Our experts interview staff and extract financial information.
Documentation & Submission: We prepare your full technical report and financial calculations.
HMRC Liaison: We file your claim and handle any communication or follow-up.
Ongoing Support: We provide post-claim assistance, guidance for future claims, and help you prepare for potential HMRC audits.

R&D Tax Credit Claim Process

What OurClients Say

At FI Group, we take pride in delivering a high-quality, tailored service that helps businesses unlock the full value of R&D tax incentives. But don’t just take our word for it, hear directly from the companies we’ve supported. Their success stories reflect our commitment to accuracy, compliance, and long-term value.

Brad Hilder, Finance Director, Dronamics

We engaged FI Group for our 2023 UK R&D Tax claim and were thoroughly impressed with their professionalism and expertise. Their team of engineers conducted detailed meetings with our R&D team leads, producing a comprehensive technical report that gave us greater confidence in the claim. By managing the entire process, FI Group significantly reduced the workload on our finance team, allowing us to focus on core activities. The claim was successful, with no issues raised by HMRC, highlighting the thoroughness and accuracy of their work. What stood out was their proactive in-year review process. This approach has meant that we are now months ahead on our next claim, as the technical information has already been obtained during the year. This ensures our future claims are based on up-to-date and more reliable technical data, giving us even greater assurance. Their deep understanding of R&D tax relief and commitment to quality were evident throughout the engagement, and we would highly recommend their services to other businesses.

Michelle Hennessy, Financial Controller, Stablepharma

We are extremely pleased with the R&D tax work carried out by FI Group on behalf of Stablepharma during 2024. Giuseppe and his team were great collaborators and quickly assimilated the necessary data to best showcase our R&D efforts, with excellent attention to detail. This resulted in a much-improved claim for our organisation, which will have an immediate impact on the work we can carry out in 2025. We would highly recommend them to other industry colleagues.

Praveen Sagar, Director and co-founder, OxDevice Ltd.

Giuseppe Amoroso from FI group did our R&D tax claim and successfully submitted on our behalf of OxDevice. Excellent team work in Submitting the claim.

Jenny Young, Head of Business Operations, Mocean

We've had an excellent experience collaborating with FI Group. Their team of consultants demonstrated proficiency in evaluating and comprehending our innovative wave energy technology, leading to a comprehensive technical report that played a significant role in securing our R&D tax credit repayment.

Robin Lumely-Savile, Director, BemOre

The smoothest way to work on R&D Tax Credit – not only are they experts of the subject but also sectors specialists; FI Group could get all the technical elements of our business by themselves leading to a successful and remarkable result.

Jaco Rabie, CFO, Equipsme

Service was fantastic, the claim exceeded our expectations and FI Group were very fair on contract points that I wanted to negotiate on. The original sale person followed the consultancy process throughout every stage to ensure the claim delivery met the expectations agreed from the beginning. We would highly recommend the services of FI Group.