Yesterday, Chancellor Rishi Sunak released his Spring Statement, highlighting that despite efforts in successive budgets, uptake of various tax relief schemes has been low and UK R&D spending is still lagging behind international competitors.
The Government is therefore proposing three new measures, which included:
- The Government now intends to include all cloud costs associated with R&D in the scope of the reliefs. This will allow companies to claim for costs related to the storage of vital data, supporting data-heavy research such as genomic sequencing.
- The Government recognises the growing volume of R&D being undertaken which is underpinned by pure mathematics. The Spring Statement announces an expansion of the qualifying expenditure to include all mathematics. This reform will support nascent sectors where the UK has a comparative advantage such as Artificial Intelligence, quantum computing and robotics while also supporting strong sectors such as manufacturing and design.
ScotlandIS welcomes these R&D tax relief measures for digital and cloud-based solutions as positive news for the sector.
CEO Karen Meechan commented: “Scotland’s digital tech sector already invests heavily in R&D to compete globally but any additional support through more generous tax relief measures are welcome.”