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How do I claim?

Our sole focus is on supporting businesses to invest, innovate and grow through preparing R&D tax relief claims and educating them on the intricacies of the regimes. We know our stuff.

Currently, several schemes are running in parallel, which can lead to some confusion.

For accounting periods beginning before 1 April 2024 there are essentially two schemes:

• one for SMEs which offers an additional tax deduction for qualifying R&D expenditure or a payable credit if you are loss-making
• one for large companies known as R&D Expenditure Credit or RDEC which offers an above the line taxable credit

To further confuse matters, some SMEs can claim under RDEC if the R&D is subcontracted to them or subsidised.

For accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024 there are two schemes:

• a scheme for loss-making R&D intensive SMEs (known as ‘ERIS’) which offers an additional tax deduction for qualifying R&D expenditure or the option of a payable non-taxable credit in exchange for the surrender of losses
• a new merged scheme (referred to as ‘new RDEC’) which offers an above the line taxable credit in the same way as the former RDEC scheme

In order to make a claim you will need to understand which regime applies to you and it is absolutely critical to get this right as there are some important differences which impact the claims under each. We told you it wasn’t simple.

Before you even start, you may need to notify HMRC of your intention to make a claim, referred to as ‘claim notification’. This is a requirement for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2023 in certain circumstances so you need to check whether this applies. Once again, this is not simple, so worth seeking advice early whilst the R&D is being undertaken and before your accounting period ends to ensure you don’t miss out.

After that there are four key stages:

Regardless of the regime, there are some key stages to making a claim:

1. Identify eligible activities
2. Identify qualifying expenditure
3. Submit the claim using the Additional Information form (AIF) AND in your tax return
4. Answer HMRC queries if they arise

Don’t worry, it is fiddly, but not impossible. We can support and guide you through it.