Corporation Tax Act 2009 section 1086

Meaning of "qualifying R&D activity"

Section 1086 defines what counts as a "qualifying R&D activity" for the purposes of tax relief available for vaccine research.

• The relief is designed to encourage research into vaccines that protect against diseases especially prevalent in the developing world.
• Research and development activity qualifies if it relates to vaccines or medicines for specific diseases that disproportionately affect developing countries.
• For HIV, the relief is limited to research into the particular genetic varieties (known as clades) of the virus that are most common in the developing world, rather than all strains of HIV.
• The definition of qualifying R&D activity sets the boundary for which vaccine research costs can benefit from this specific tax relief regime.