Research and development tax relief statistics

Every autumn HMRC releases a swathe of statistics about claims made for research and development (R&D) tax relief for the previous financial year. The total amount claimed – just over £5.3bn for 2018-19 so far – is broken down by sector geography and some time in the spring by both sector and geography.

The trouble with the autumn statistics is that they are only about three-quarters of the picture. The report captures claims that have been submitted only before 30 June 2020 for companies whose year end fell in the 2018-19 financial year.

Given that R&D tax relief claims can be filed up to two years from the end of the accounting period this data does not include any company that has yet to make a claim for a year end between October 2018 and the end of the 2019 financial year.

The data produced...