Posted: 17 / 02 / 2025
Our response to the article ‘Premier League clubs claim millions in tax relief meant for ‘science and tech’ written by George Greenwood in The Times, dated Monday 17th February 2025, which mentions Sedulo in relation to R&D tax incentives for sporting organisations.
We are a leading UK consultancy firm, with a highly skilled allowances incentives and reliefs division, supporting clients across R&D, Patent Box, Creative Industry, Capital Allowances and Energy tax reliefs that exist in the UK.
These reliefs implemented by the Government and administered by HMRC, are there to promote growth, innovation and investment throughout the UK. They are designed to stimulate the economy, and mirror those available in many other countries on a competitive global stage.
Our country is fortunate, in that we have some of the highest performing and credible sporting organisations in the world. They are not only pillars of the community, but they drive our economy. Recent studies identified that the Premier League alone contributes £7.6bn to the UK economy (including c.£4.2bn in direct taxes in the 2021/2022 season) and our beloved stadiums are beamed into the homes of over 600 million households in over 180 countries. The Premier League, and other competitions, are arguably regarded as the best in the world.
These are high human performance organisations with dedicated Medical and Sports Science departments. They are not the best in the world by chance, they are acclaimed because of the constant strive to innovate, research, and test ways in which to improve the product.
These are high human performance organisations with dedicated Medical and Sports Science departments. They are not the best in the world by chance, they are acclaimed because of the constant strive to innovate, research, and test ways in which to improve the product. Most work with leading academic institutions to improve knowledge in injury prevention, rehabilitation and biomechanical performance. They directly employ highly qualified professionals from the world of medicine and science, and work with some of the leading institutions in publishing the results of their findings. Examples include research into the early detection of concussion-related long-term brain injuries and improvements in recovery times resulting from serious muscular and ligament injuries.
Many of these elite organisations are ideal candidates to conduct R&D activities, and as such the rigorous project qualification criteria applies equally whether it be a pharmaceutical company, advanced robotics and artificial intelligence or increasing knowledge in the ‘hard science’ aspects of human performance and recovery. These are projects that may qualify for R&D tax incentives under the ‘Meaning of research and development for tax purposes: guidelines’ (also known as the ‘DSIT’ or ‘BEIS’ guidelines, last updated March 2023), and by reference to HMRC’s Corporate Intangibles Research and Development Manual (CIRD) and Guidelines for Compliance (GfC3, last updated January 2025). For instance, the GfC3 includes an example of a qualifying R&D project in the context of a professional sports team. This involves a ‘competent professional’ (a nutritionist with the appropriate qualifications) seeking to ‘improve player recovery time through diet’.
Not only is the ‘on pitch’ product arguably the world class, but our stadia are some of the best in the world. Organisations that invest in these areas may qualify for Capital Allowances reliefs under the respective legislation.
These incentives exist to encourage organisations, regardless of industry, to invest, create more jobs, drive innovation, enable high performance and ultimately propel our economy forward.
In our opinion, the article in The Times doesn’t contend with the fundamental qualifying legislation or the complexity of applying the relevant rules and guidance in real world contexts. Furthermore, the article doesn’t deal with the spirit and economic environment in which these incentives exist, they exist to encourage organisations, regardless of industry, to invest, create more jobs, drive innovation, enable high performance and ultimately propel our economy forward.
That investment should be applauded and rewarded, and we are proud to support some of the greatest sporting teams in this arena.