If you are an a company with a project that you think may qualify for R&D tax relief but you are not sure, there are 2 main areas to consider:
Technology / Science
1. Do you employ technical staff?
2. Has your project developed new technology, or significantly improved existing technology?
3. Have you had to overcome technology challenges in order to do so?
Financial
1. Are you an SME under the EU definition?
2. Do you make a Corporation Tax (CT) return?
3. Was the cost of the project including staff costs, temporary staff, materials, water, fuel, power, software, subcontractors more than £10,000 in one financial year?
4. Did you have a PAYE/NIC liability in the period concerned?
5. Was the project free of state funding?
6. Can you confirm you were not a subcontractor on the R&D project?
If the answer to all of these questions is Yes, then there is a very good chance that if the project is eligible then you will be able to make a claim, either in the form of a cash-back tax credit or an enhanced tax relief.
If you want to get started on the claim right away look at the HMRC Research & Development website 
and review the quallifying criteria. It's also worth looking at the Top 10 Mistakes that HMRC see in claims but be aware that as of December 2006, the tools are out of date. If you feel you would like some help please feel free to call us on +44 (0) 203 004 9243