Chancellor could rein in small business R&D tax credits Rishi Sunak is frustrated at the lack of investment into small businesses, despite the UK having what he describes as one of the most generous tax regimes for R&D investment in the world. A Centre for Business Research report last year revealed that self-funded business investment in R&D was between 10 and 15% lower than before tax credits were introduced in 2000. Consequently, Rishi Sunak is looking at whether tax credits would be better focused on larger companies, rather than SMEs, insiders said. However, one person familiar with Government thinking said that it wasn’t a case that R&D tax credits would be taken away from small businesses completely – rather that they would be merged with the existing RDEC scheme for larger companies, something the Treasury has been quite open about.