Getting to grips with five different R&D tax relief schemes

The recent overhaul of R&D tax relief schemes has done little to simplify the rules as users now have to grapple with no less than five schemes. Richard Edwards, CEO of R&D Community, explains the key differences

April 2024 saw the introduction of a new merged and enhanced research and development (R&D) intensive scheme (ERIS). This was on top of the gap-filling R&D intensive scheme and leaves you wrestling five sets of rules for R&D tax relief. Yes, really – five.

You will no doubt be familiar with both the SME scheme and R&D expenditure credit (RDEC), the two long standing schemes for R&D tax relief. The Merged R&D scheme has been pretty well publicised as a combination of the old SME and RDEC rules.

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