No. R&D tax relief is a corporation tax relief, available only to entities chargeable to UK corporation tax, which in practice means companies. Sole traders pay income tax on their profits, not corporation tax, so they sit outside the relief entirely, however genuinely scientific or technological their work is. There is no income tax equivalent to claim instead.
Partnerships and LLPs
An ordinary partnership of individuals is in the same position as a sole trader: its members pay income tax, so there is no route to the relief. An LLP normally cannot claim in its own right either, but there is one way in. Where a member of the LLP is a company, relief can reach that corporate member through the corporation tax computation of its share of the partnership’s profits, provided the R&D relates to a trade carried on, or to be carried on, by the partnership itself. The mechanics differ by scheme, the individual members get nothing, and the position should be checked rather than assumed — under the old SME scheme, for example, the payable cash credit was not available to a corporate partner at all. The usual conditions apply on top: qualifying R&D, qualifying costs and the compliance steps every claim now carries.
What if you incorporate?
A company you form can claim for the qualifying R&D it carries out and pays for once it exists. What it cannot do is reach back: expenditure you incurred personally as a sole trader, before the company existed, is not the company’s expenditure and cannot go into the company’s claim. If you are doing genuine development work and weighing up incorporation, the availability of R&D relief is one factor among the commercial and tax considerations, and timing matters, because only work from incorporation onwards can ever be claimed.
Two compliance points catch new companies in exactly this position. A first-time claimant is usually caught by the claim notification requirement: HMRC must be notified within six months of the end of the period of account, and a missed window invalidates the claim with no late route. And every claim requires the Additional Information Form before or with the return. Neither step is difficult; both are unforgiving.
Where to go next
If you trade through a company already, the four conditions for a claim are set out in what your company needs to qualify. If you are a sole trader considering incorporation and want the R&D position considered properly alongside everything else, talk to us before you decide, not after.
Written by Matthew Jones ACA CTA. Last reviewed July 2026.
Sources
- R&D tax relief: the merged scheme and ERIS — relief claimed through corporation tax by companies.
- Tell HMRC you plan to claim — the notification requirement that catches first-time claimants.
This page describes the rules as they stood at the review date above, as general information rather than advice on your circumstances. For how that distinction works, see our terms; for an answer on your own facts, talk to us.