R & D Tax Credit Statistics

Jane Lambert

R & D tax credits are a deductible allowance against corporation tax or, in the case of a company that is not liable for tax a cash payment, for expenditure on  research and development. This allowance was introduced originally for small and medium enterprises in 2000 and extended to larger companies in 2002. The purpose of those allowances was to encourage innovation and statistics obtained from tax returns show how this incentive has operated were published on 15 Aug 2014 by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC Research and Development Tax Credits Statistics).

Summary
According to HMRC over 100,000 claims were made by 28,500 SME and 7,000 large companies amounting to £9.5 billion between 2000 when the scheme began and 2013 when the statistics were collected. More than 45.8% of the claims and 62.8% of the amounts claimed were from companies with registered offices in London and South East England. Between 2012 and 2013 over £13.2 billion was spent on R & D of which over £10 billion was spent by large companies and the rest by SME.

IPO Facts and Figures
I have compared HMRC's statistics with the Intellectual Property Office's Facts and Figures for 2012 and 2013.  Thwy break down British patent applications and grants by sector and region. I had not expected more than an approximate correlation because HMRC's R & D tax credit figures and the IPO's because R & D does not always result in a patentable invention and indeed an invention that is patentable can be protected by a patent from the European Patent Office.   Moreover, the location of a company's registered office does not indicate where its R & D takes will take place. The correlation that I did find is therefore striking.

Regional Analysis
Between 2012 and 2013 there were 12,535 claims for nearly £1.2 billion of R & D tax credits of which 3,030 were from South East England, 2,715 from London and 1,630 from the East of England. In 2013 the South East came top for the number of patent applications with 2,822 followed by London with 2,588 and the East with 1,802.

Sector Analysis
It is harder to compare the figures for industrial sectors because HMRC's categories are broader than the IPO's. The top four sectors for R & D claims were manufacturing with 5,110, information and communication with 4,095, professional, scientific and technical with 3,030 and wholesale and retail trade and repairs with 1,375.  Much of the R & D in HMRC's second, third and fourth categories will be for software and other matter excluded matter under s.1 (2) of the Patents Act 1977. Nevertheless it is possible to see some rough correlation because the top four sectors for patent applications in 2013 were for controlling, computing, timing, checking or signalling inventions (1,355), electronic circuitry and telecommunications (1,249), vehicles, transporting, conveying, packing and containers (1,141) and measuring, testing, optics and photography (961).

Further Information
Should anyone wish to discuss this article, these statistics or indeed R & D tax credits he or she can contact me during office hours on 020 7404 5252 or at any time through my contact form. He or she can also message me through Facebook, G+, Linkedin, twitter or Xing.

Related Articles

Jane Lambert "Funding your Invention: R & D Tax Credits"  27 Aug 2014 Inventors Club blog
Jane Lambert  "South East England leads the nation in R & D Tax Credit Claims" 25 Aug 2014 South East England IP Blog

Forthcoming Events: Angel News VCT and EIS Investor Forum and Anne Fairpo to speak to AIPPI UK on the Patent Box

Jane Lambert

I have just received an email from Modwenna Rees-Mogg of Angel News that the 2013 VCT and EIS forum will take place on 26 Nov 2013 at 200 Aldersgate.

According to Angel News "the VCT and EIS Investor Forum is the UK's must-attend event for VCT and EIS investors and the fund management community." The announcement continues:

"The VCT and EIS Investor Forum is the only live event in the UK focused on bringing hundreds of private investors and IFA's to meet the VCT and EIS fund management community on one day and in one place. Our 2012 event saw350 delegates come together in central London to hear from industry experts, gain educational insight, participate in exciting debates, enjoy quality networking and hear from some excellent keynote speakers."

You will see from the agenda that there are some interesting topics presented by some well known speakers including Martha Lane Fox.

If you want to find out more about the event please contact fuchsia@angelnews.co.uk or call  01761 452 248.  If you want to go you can register through the organizer's Eventbrite site.

Also, my colleague Anne Fairpo will be one of the speakers at the AIPPI's seminar "The Patent Box and ATL credits: The First Six Months - A Success?" which will take place at the offices of  Carpmaels & Ransford on the 14 Oct 2013 at 17:30.

The other speaker will be Kevin Phillips, International Tax Partner at Baker Tilly.

According to the AIPPI's website the course is directed at all levels of practitioners with an interest in intellectual property and will provide them with an understanding of the current issues and future potential directions concerning the patent box and ATL credits.

I hope to be there.

What is meant by "qualifying IP rights"?

Jane Lambert

S.357A (1) of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 as amended by para 1 (1) of Schedule 2 of the Finance Act 2012 provides:

"A company may elect that any relevant IP profits of a trade of the company for an accounting period for which it is a qualifying company are chargeable at a lower rate of corporation tax."

In order to be a "qualifying company" a company must either hold qualifying IP rights or an exclusive licence in respect of such rights (see s.357B (1)).  S.357B (4)  further provides that a "qualifying IP right" must be a right to which s.357BB applies.

S.357BB (1) lists the following rights:

"(a)  a patent granted under the Patents Act 1977,
(b)  a patent granted under the European Patent Convention,
(c)  a right of a specified description which corresponds to a right within paragraph (a) or (b) and is granted under the law of a specified EEA state,
(d)  a supplementary protection certificate,
(e)  any plant breeders’ rights granted in accordance with Part 1 of the Plant Varieties Act 1997,
(f)  any Community plant variety rights granted under Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94."

It would seem that British patents and European patents designating any of the parties to the European Patent Convention would fall within the scope of the Act. These would seem to cover some important countries that are outside the EU such as as Norway, Switzerland and Turkey as well as others that are within it such as Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.  Some 38 countries are party to the EPC (see "Member States of the European Patent Organization").  Unified patents (that is to say European patents granted for the territories of most of the EU) would also seem to be covered by s.357BB (1) (b). For more information on the proposed unified patent, see my article "Unified Patent Court Comes One Step Closer"  17 Aug 2013 NIPC Law).

S.357BB (1) (c) refers to patents granted by certain "specified EEA states". The adjective "specified" is interpreted by s.357BB (7) as "specified in an order made by the Treasury."  That order is The Profits from Patents (EEA Rights) Order 2013 (SI 2013 No 420) which was made on 26 Feb 2013 and came into force on 1 April 2013. Art 2 (2) of that Order designates the following EEA states:
Austria
Bulgaria
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
Germany
Hungary
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Sweden.

This patents granted by the patent offices of each of those states would be covered.

A “supplementary protection certificate” is defined by s.357BB (7) as a 

"certificate issued under—
(a)  Council Regulation (EC) No 469/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009 concerning the supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products, or
(b)  Regulation (EC) No 1610/96 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 1996 concerning the creation of a supplementary protection certificate for plant protection products."

Such a certificate extends the protection of a patented active ingredient or combination of active ingredients present in a pharmaceutical or plant protection product after the expiry of the patent.  It does not not extend the term of a patent, but gives similar protection. It protects the specific pharmaceutical or plant protection product authorized, and any use of the active ingredient in an authorized pharmaceutical or plant protection product while the certificate is in force that is protected by the patent. The certificate enters into force when the patent expires.  The legal basis for such certifications are the above EU regulations. Interestingly, a supplemental protection certificate granted by the French, Italian, Spanish and other patent offices would seem to qualify for the concession even though national patents granted by those offices would not. For more information see the "Supplementary Protection Certificates" page on the IPO website and the leaflet "Supplementary Protection Certificates Guide For Applicants".

The concession extends to British and Community plant breeders' rights (s.357BB (e) and (f)).  Plant breeders' rights protect new plant varieties by enabling preventing anyone other than the rights holders from producing, selling, importing and exporting the protected plants and seeds.   British plant breeders' rights are administered not by the Intellectual Property Office but by the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (see the Department's plant varieties page) under the Plant Varieties Act 1997. Community (or EU) plant breeders' rights are administered by the Community Plant Variety Office in Angers under Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94 (the Community plant varieties regulation).

Should anyone wish to discuss this article or the patent box in general, please call me on 020 7404 5252 or send me a message through my contact form. I can also be contacted through twitter, Facebook, G+, Linkedin and Xing.

Fairpo on Tax Planning for the Patent Box

Building on our success with our Patent Box Roadshow in Leeds, Liverpool and London we are looking at the concession in rather more detail. Our colleague Anne Fairpo of Atlas Tax Chambers will discuss tax planning for the patent box at Liverpool in London on the 13 Sept 2013 between 12:00 and 14:30.

Anne is an authority on the patent box and IP and taxation generally. She edits the Intellectual Property Tax blog. Her publications include Taxation of Intellectual Property which is already in its third edition and the chapter on tax in Copinger & Skone James on Copyright.

Supporting Anne will be our good friends Barbara Cookson of Filemot Technology Law and Michael Sandys of Broudie Jackson Canter who will discuss patenting and licensing respectively.   Afterwards you will get a chance to meet the speakers over refreshments.   The event is free but space is limited so you must book in advance.   You can do so by so  by clicking the link here,

Liverpool in London is unofficially called "the Liverpool embassy",   You will find it on the second floor of the Johnson Smirke Building at 4 Royal Mint Court, London, EC3N 4HJ. It is not easy to find and there is no signage so give yourself plenty of time.  We look forward to seeing you there.

London Workshop: Howard Veares's Slides

Even though the Liverpool embassy to London was not easy to find we had a very successful seminar at the the patent box on 12 July 2013.   The main presentation was by Howard Veares, tax director - Corporate International Tax Services at BDO LLP.  You will find his slides above. Other presentations were given by Michael Sandys, head of commercial and IP at Broudie Jackson & Canter who hosted the event.  

I also gave an introduction to patents along the lines of my presentation to the Liverpool Inventors Club on 29 April 2013 and a handout which your can download here,

Patent Box Workshop - London 12 July 2013 12:00 - 14:30

Liverpool Embassy, Royal Mint Court

Jane Lambert

Following our successful seminars in Leeds and Liverpool last month and the month before, our next workshop on the Patent Box and R & D credits will take place at the Liverpool embassy in Royal Mint Court on Friday, 12 July at 12:00.

I will present an introduction to patents and I will be followed by Howard Veares, Tax Director - Corporate International Tax Services at BDO LLP who will explain the concession and how to take advantage of it and Michael Sandys, Head of IP, Commercial and Media at Broudie Jackson Canter.will talk about licensing and other commercial exploitation of IP.

Joseph Howard, one of my colleagues from Atlas Tax Chambers, will also be there.

You can book online below.

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