From 8th August 2023 companies who claim relief for research & development expenditure are required to submit an additional information form to HMRC to support the claim. This must be submitted before the Corporation Tax Return (CT600).

This additional information form must include some basic details about the Company (UTR, PAYE reference, VAT registration number) and also details of the projects that are eligible for R&D relief along with the qualifying expenditure.

  • For 1-3 projects, you need to describe all the projects you are claiming for.
  • For 4-10 projects, you need to describe those projects that account for at least 50% of the total expenditure, with a minimum of 3 projects described.
  • For more than 11 projects, as above however if the qualifying expenditure is split across multiple smaller projects, describe the 10 with the most qualifying expenditure.

This form must be submitted to HMRC via a Government Gateway account.

For accounting periods beginning on or after 1st April 2023, you must also submit a form to HMRC to notify them that you intend to make a claim for R&D tax relief. This applies if:

  • You’re claiming for the first time or
  • Your last claim was made more than 3 years after the last date of the claim notification period.

Example – accounting period runs from 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024

  1. Identify the claim notification window
  • This starts on the first day of the accounting period (1st April 2023) and ends 6 months after the end of the accounting period (30th September 2024)
  1. Check if the 3-year exemption applies
  • The claim notification window ends on 30th September 2024. Therefore, the period under review is 1stOctober 2021 – 30th September 2024.
  • If a company has made an R&D claim for an earlier period at any point during these 3 years, it does not have to submit a claim notification form.

The notification form is not as detailed as the additional information form. This is simply to notify HMRC that you intend to make a claim. The form must include the following:

  • Company’s UTR
  • Contact details of the main internal R&D contact in the company (who is responsible for the R&D claim)
  • Contact details of the agent involved in the R&D claim, if any.
  • Accounting period start and end date for which the claim relates to
  • The period of account start and end date
  • A summary of the high-level planned activities. Further detail will be included on the additional information form.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with your usual Drummond Laurie contact if you wish to discuss this further.