Check if a project includes activities that qualify as Research and Development for tax purposes
Source: gov.uk (2025-09-30)

Use this tool to find out if your project involves Research and Development (R&D) for tax purposes.

Research and Development (R&D) tax reliefs support UK companies working on innovative projects in science and technology.

To claim these reliefs, a project must meet certain criteria. Only activity that meets the definition of R&D for tax purposes can qualify.

This tool will:
- help you if you are new to R&D tax relief or if you need additional support
- give HMRC’s view on whether a project involves R&D for tax purposes based on the information you provide
You will need to complete the tool based on the facts of each project.

You can use the tool to help you:
- understand the key concepts around qualifying R&D projects
- check what information you need before making a claim
- check if your project involves R&D for tax purposes
The tool also has guidance links throughout to support you. You should read the guidance on those questions before you answer. This is to make sure that you get the correct outcome for each project.

Before you start

You will need a competent professional to answer some of the questions in the tool.

You can read more about the importance of a competent professional (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/help-to-see-if-your-work-qualifies-as-research-and-development-for-tax-purposes-gfc3/importance-of-a-competent-professional-part-3). This will tell you about:
- who a competent professional is
- evidence of being a competent professional
- the opinion of a competent professional
There is an optional free text box when saving or printing your result. This is for you to add any additional information and may help you when preparing to make an R&D claim.

The information you provide will not be stored or used by HMRC and you do not need to provide any personal or sensitive details to use this tool.

Check if your project qualifies

If you are not sure if your project work involves R&D for tax purposes, you can use the tool to check.

Check now (https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-your-project-work-qualifies-as-research-and-development-for-tax-purposes)

After you’ve used the tool

HMRC recommends that you:
- save or print your result
- keep a record of the information you used to answer each question
This will help you with making a claim and if we open a compliance check into that claim.

If your answers in the tool are based on your project’s facts and you can clearly support and explain them, we’re unlikely to disagree that it involves R&D activities. If we do, we’ll explain why.

If you disagree with the outcome of the tool, you may wish to seek professional advice from a qualified tax advisor.

What you need to do next

If your project qualifies as R&D for tax purposes, it does not always mean you can claim the tax relief on all R&D related costs.

You will need to follow each step in the guidance for claiming Research and Development (R&D) tax relief (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/research-and-development-rd-tax-relief).

The next step for you is to check what Research and Development (R&D) costs you can claim (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-what-research-and-development-rd-costs-you-can-claim).

More information

If you need more support, you can check the guidance for help to see if your work qualifies for R&D (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/help-to-see-if-your-work-qualifies-as-research-and-development-for-tax-purposes-gfc3) including:
- the purpose, scope and background
- the expectations of claimants
- the importance of a competent professional
- how to identify qualifying R&D activities
- the recommended approach to claims and record keeping