UK and International Tax news

Consultations On Patent Box And R&D Credits

Wednesday 22nd June 2011

HMT has recently published consultation documents on the Patent Box and Research and Development (R&D) tax credits as part of plans to make the UK’s tax system the most competitive in the G20 and to make the UK the best place in Europe to start, finance and grow a business.

The Patent Box will apply a 10% corporation tax rate to profits attributed to patents from April 2013.  The consultation document consults on detailed proposals for the Patent Box’s implementation, and gives more information about which patents and associated intellectual property types and what income will be eligible.

The R&D tax credits consultation will further simplify the scheme by changing the rules to extend the credit so that the costs of more contract workers qualify. 

The Government is also to pilot a process that will allow small companies and start-ups to find out what projects will qualify for the credit at an early stage in their development to assist in planning.  The Government would like to explore further with companies the evidence base for moving to an ‘above the line’ credit.

Both consultations close on 2 September 2011.

If you would like more information on these consultations, please contact Keith Rushen on 0044 (0)20 7486 2378.

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