Corporation Tax Act 2009 section 1069

R&D threshold

Section 1069 establishes the minimum amount of qualifying research and development expenditure that a company must incur in an accounting period before it can claim relief under the R&D expenditure credit scheme.

• A company must meet a minimum spending threshold on qualifying R&D expenditure in each accounting period to be eligible for relief.
• The threshold acts as a gateway — if total qualifying expenditure falls below the minimum, no claim can be made under this scheme for that period.
• The requirement applies on a per-accounting-period basis, so the threshold must be met in each period for which a claim is made.
• This provision ensures that the R&D expenditure credit regime is targeted at companies undertaking a meaningful level of research and development activity.