Revenue updated its “Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit” guidelines in July 2020,¹ replacing the version published in June 2019.² Finance Act 2019 introduced changes to the R&D tax credit regime that predominantly focuses on small and micro companies. These were measures for which various bodies and interested parties had been calling for over the last few years, and their introduction sent out a positive message to companies that meet these definitions. Given the measures introduced by Finance Act 2019, it comes as no surprise that the R&D tax credit guidelines have been updated. However, the measures introduced on 22 December 2019 for small and micro companies are still subject to Ministerial Order and have not yet been enacted. As a result, some of the updates in the new R&D tax credit guidelines are merely placeholders, and we can expect updated R&D tax credit guidelines to issue once these measures are enacted.