One of the conditions for a company to make a claim under the SME scheme is that the expenditure is not incurred by carrying out R&D as a subcontractor. If a ‘large company’ subcontracts its R&D to an SME, then the SME can make a tax credit claim, but only under a Large Company Scheme. Where successful, this will enable the company to get a 13% gross deduction for qualifying R&D expenses.