From 1 April 2013 companies claiming R&D tax relief under the large company scheme (both genuinely large companies and SMEs claiming under the large company regime) will be able to claim a payable, ‘above the line’ (ATL) credit to the value of 9.1% of their qualifying R&D expenditure. ATL will be optional until April 2016 when it fully replaces the existing superdeduction scheme and becomes mandatory. The main beneficiaries will be companies with tax losses (who will now be able to obtain cash relief) and companies which focus on EBITDA as a performance measure. Companies should act now to ensure that the benefits are realised and accounted for as soon as possible after April.
