From the 1 April 2015, businesses have been able to claim £130 for every £100 spent on qualifying R&D, following an increase from 125% to 130%.

HMRC introduced the R&D Tax Credit Scheme in 2000 as an incentive designed to make the UK an attractive place for innovative companies to operate. The schemes that are currently available enable businesses to claim substantial tax relief on the money they spend on research and development that qualifies under the relevant scheme.

It is usually the size of the business that determines which scheme they are eligible for. The Small or Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) Scheme offers very generous incentives for both tax-paying and loss-making SMEs. For a profitable company that pays tax, the reduction in tax payable is worth 26% of the qualifying spend. For a loss-making company there is the potential to surrender the losses for a cash payment from HMRC, which could be worth up to 33.35% of the qualifying spend.

Companies that are unable to claim under the SME regime may be able to claim under one of two large company regimes: The Large Company Scheme or the R&D expenditure credit (RDEC) scheme.

Despite the fact that the scheme has been available to SMEs for 15 years, many companies are still either under-claiming or not claiming at all.

A recent KPMG Enterprise survey of SMEs found only 5% had ever claimed R&D tax relief. Data released from Baker Tilly last year revealed that only 15% of the 750 SMEs surveyed were aware of R&D tax credits. HMRC estimates suggest that fewer than 45% of the tech community claim all of the relief on offer, with many not claiming at all. While it's impossible to say what the exact figures are for SMEs across the country, it's highly likely that a large proportion of small and medium-sized businesses are missing out. With such generous benefits on offer, businesses should be taking full advantage of the R&D tax reliefs available to them.