Are we eligible to make a claim if we are subcontracted to conduct R&D by another party?

In the SME scheme, an SME can only claim R&D tax credits if they are subcontracted by a large company. This is different from the norm in the SME scheme, where usually only the company directly funding the R&D work can make the claim, as long as they have the correct understanding of what subcontracted R&D entails.

On the other hand, if a large company is subcontracted to perform R&D, it can claim the R&D tax credits under the large company under RDEC scheme. In this case, it doesn’t matter who pays for the work; the large company can still make the claim.