From 1^st August 2023, an additional claim form must be submitted to HMRC prior to or at the same time as the submission of the company’s tax computation (including R&D). Without this, the R&D claim will be removed from the Corporation Tax return. 

It is worth noting that the claim form can be completed by an agent however it will require the details of the main senior internal R&D contact in the company who is responsible for the R&D claim.

What information is required?

• Company Details (UTR, employer PAYE reference, VAT number & SIC code)
• Contact Details (Senior R&D contact & agent details)
• Accounting period start and end date
• Technical project details
• Details of the qualifying expenditure
• Qualifying indirect activity

What project information is required?

The form requires details of the projects you’re claiming for in the accounting period in question along with the details of these projects. The requirement set by HMRC will be to include at least 50% of the total R&D projects conducted within the period (from a minimum of 3 projects (100% of the projects will need to be included when supplying 3 projects) up to a maximum of 10). The following details will be required for each project:

• What is the main field of science or technology?
• What was the baseline level of science or technology that you planned to advance?
• What advance in that scientific or technical knowledge did you aim to achieve?
• What scientific or technological uncertainties did you face?
• How did your project seek to overcome these uncertainties?

What qualifying expenditure information is required?

Please note, depending on which conditions you meet, you can claim under either the SME or the RDEC scheme.

Qualifying R&D cost categories in which HMRC will require a breakdown to support your claim are listed below:

• Staff (including gross salary, employers NIC and employers pension contributions)
• consumable items, for example materials or utilities used up during the R&D project
• subcontractor costs
• software
• externally provided workers
• cloud computing costs, including storage, for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2023
• data licence costs, for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2023
• payments to participants of a clinical trial

These changes will affect the way in which a claim is prepared. Therefore, it is of benefit to all companies currently undertaking R&D activities to speak with us now to understand the impact of making a future claim to ensure you aren’t missing any important deadlines.