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Proposed changes to the UK R&D tax regime will impact businesses buying in expertise from overseas

The government has proposed changes to the research and development (‘R&D’) tax relief for companies that subcontract R&D to a third party or engage with external labour resource (externally provided workers or ‘EPWs’), effective from April 2023. R&D relief for subcontracted activity will only be available where that third party performs the work in the UK and, in the case of EPWs, R&D relief will only be available where these workers are paid via a UK payroll.

The aim is to encourage innovation within the UK, to ‘buy British’ and to avoid incentivising any perceived loss of skills to other countries. The reality, however, is that these changes are likely to negatively impact many businesses that choose to access a global knowledge base, leading to a reduction in the value of R&D tax relief claimed.

The proposed changes also assume that businesses have the commercial flexibility to change the way they engage with external suppliers and move towards UK-based resources. For many, this won’t be the case.

Key barriers faced by businesses include:

We recommend that the government considers the following options to mitigate the impact on UK businesses:

Although this is still a draft proposal subject to ongoing consultation, it is clear that the government is committed to focusing R&D tax relief towards UK-based activities. While we have sympathy with the policy intent, we encourage the government to consider all options when introducing changes so that the new regime is as fair as possible to UK business. If adequate care is not taken there is a real risk that, instead of boosting R&D in the UK, the new policy will become an own goal for UK innovation.

authors:james-tetley