R&D Tax Credit Calculator for UK Agencies

Absolutely. Most web development and MarTech agencies qualify for R&D tax credits but never claim. Building custom platforms, integrating complex systems, solving performance challenges, and implementing AI features all count. The test is whether you faced technological uncertainty and advanced your capabilities to solve it. For official guidance, see HMRC R&D Tax Relief guidance.

It varies by agency type. A typical web development agency might have 30-40% of developer time qualifying. MarTech agencies building automation tools often hit 40-50%. Creative tech studios doing experimental work can reach 50-60%. The calculator uses industry benchmarks, but an R&D specialist can identify more qualifying work than most agencies expect.

Both can qualify. Building a custom e-commerce platform for a client involves the same technical challenges as internal product work. The distinction HMRC cares about is whether you faced uncertainty and advanced technology to solve it. Client projects where you built something genuinely new qualify alongside your own product development.

Under the current SME scheme, profitable companies get roughly 21.5% of qualifying expenditure back as corporation tax savings. For a Manchester web agency with GBP 300,000 in qualifying R&D costs, that's GBP 64,500 in tax relief. Loss-making companies get a 10% payable credit instead. You can claim for the current year plus two previous years if you haven't claimed before.

HMRC wants to see technical narratives explaining the challenge, your approach, and what you learned. Keep project briefs, technical specs, and documentation of problems solved. Track time spent on R&D activities, even rough estimates help. Subcontractor invoices and cloud hosting costs need receipts. We help structure all this for maximum qualifying spend with minimum HMRC risk.

Yes, 65% of subcontractor costs for R&D work qualify under the SME scheme. If you paid a freelance developer GBP 50,000 to build custom functionality, GBP 32,500 counts towards your R&D expenditure. They must be UK based and working on genuinely qualifying activities, but this is often a significant overlooked area for agency claims.

Simple template-based websites don't qualify because there's no technological uncertainty. But custom WordPress development often does. Building bespoke plugins, creating complex integrations, solving unusual performance challenges, or developing custom functionality that doesn't exist in available plugins can all qualify. The test is whether you advanced technology or applied existing knowledge.

This gives you a ballpark estimate based on typical agency R&D patterns and current SME scheme rates. Actual claims require detailed review of your specific projects, documentation, and cost allocation. Many agencies find they can claim more than the calculator suggests once an R&D specialist reviews their work properly. Use this as a starting point to see if claiming is worth exploring.