Budget measures available for innovative businesses

These are strange times. The coronavirus crisis has left everyone wondering which way is up none more so than the chancellor Rishi Sunak for whom Covid-19 has delivered a baptism of fire.

For the UK the pandemic marks a dramatic hiatus in the nation’s efforts to navigate a brave new world outside the EU. So accountants were already expecting a helping hand for businesses when the chancellor delivered the Budget last month.

That was before world events began overtaking policy direction on a daily basis so by the time the chancellor did get to his feet in the House of Commons on 11 March the picture for innovative businesses was more favourable than expected. The major takeaways include the areas of research and development expenditure credit (RDEC) corporation tax and the PAYE cap delays to the latter being a big win for innovation-intensive...