UK R&D tax credit changes ‘not built on solid evidence’

Small business representative says slashing tax relief did not make sense after new data emerged

Changes to the government’s R&D tax credit scheme are “not [built] on a foundation of solid evidence” and fail to consider recent data, according to the Federation of Small Businesses.

The claims follow chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s decision to cut the deduction rate for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) using the scheme in a bid to tackle abuse and fraud in the system.