HM Revenue and Customs

Supports HM Revenue and Customs, the United Kingdom tax authority administering taxes and innovation-related business incentives.

HM Revenue and Customs is the United Kingdom's tax authority, a non-ministerial department under HM Treasury that administers taxes, state support, and business incentive reliefs. For innovation-focused companies, its main role is not capital allocation but the tax system itself, with R&D tax relief, Patent Box, Enterprise Investment Scheme, Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, and the creative industries expenditure credits shaping the support on offer.

The reliefs are statutory and self-claimed on the Corporation Tax return rather than awarded through a competitive panel. The merged R&D scheme and Enhanced R&D Intensive Support both cover qualifying science and technology work, while Patent Box reduces the rate on profits from patented inventions. EIS and SEIS support external equity investment, and AVEC and VGEC cover film, television, and video games through expenditure credits.

HMRC's profile is defined by compliance and eligibility rules, not grant rounds. Companies must meet the statutory tests, maintain records, and follow filing requirements, with special provisions for Northern Ireland in some schemes. The result is a broad but tightly regulated support regime that reaches deep into the UK's science, technology, and creative sectors without operating as a grant maker.