New rules apply for making an R & D claim
For accounting periods that start on or after 1st April 2023, companies that wish to claim Research and Development (R&D) tax relief will need to comply with additional reporting requirements.
Previously, companies have been able to make a claim via their company tax return, within a period of 2 years following the end of the accounting period. However, the new rules will require a company to notify HMRC that they plan to make a claim. The notification must be made to HMRC within 6 months of the end of the accounting period if any of the following apply:
- You’re claiming for the first time.
- You’ve claimed for the previous tax year, but you did not submit that claim until after the last date of the claim notification period (6 months after the end of the period).
- Your last claim was made more than 3 years before the last date of the claim notification period.
HMRC will remove any R&D tax relief claims from Corporation Tax Returns where a notification is required and not been made.
The notification will be made via an online form and can be completed and submitted by either a representative of the company or an agent (accountant). The information that must be included on the notification is:
- Company Unique Tax Reference (UTR)
- Main senior internal R&D contact for the company – e.g. company director
- Contact details of any agent involved in the R&D claim
- Accounting period start and end date – must match the dates of the Company Tax Return
- A summary of the high-level planned activities that will qualify for the R&D tax relief
You don’t need to include evidence on the form, but from 1st August 2023 you will need to provide further information on the “additional information form”.
The additional information form is the second additional reporting requirement that is being introduced. This form must be submitted to HMRC from 1st August 2023 to support all claims for R&D tax relief. The form must be submitted before the Corporation Tax Return is submitted to HMRC. HMRC will remove any claims for R&D tax relief from a Corporation Tax Return where this form has not submitted first.
Again, the form can be submitted by either a representative of the company or an agent. The details to be included on this form are:
- Company UTR
- Employer PAYE reference number
- VAT registration number
- Business type (current SIC code)
- Contact details of the main senior internal R&D contact in the company
- Contact details of any agent involved in the R&D claim
- Accounting period start and end date
- Qualifying expenditure details
- Qualifying indirect activities – Qualifying expenditure for each project that do not directly lead to resolving the uncertainty
- Project details
For 1-3 projects, you need to describe all the projects
For 4-10 projects, you need to describe the projects that account for at least 50% of the total expenditure, with a minimum of 3 projects described
For 11-100 projects, you need to describe those projects that account for at least 50% of the total expenditure, with a minimum of 3 projects described. If the qualifying expenditure is split across multiple smaller projects, describe the 10 largest.
- Description of each project, which includes:
Main field of science or technology
Baseline level of science or technology that the company planned to advance
Advance in scientific or technological knowledge that the company aim to achieve
Scientific or technological uncertainties the company faced
How did the project seek to overcome the uncertainties
- Tax relief being claimed and the amount
If you believe your company is incurring R&D expenditure and wish to discuss these changes, please contact us as soon as possible. We can assist you with your R&D claim and help you with the notification and additional information form submissions.