HMRC R&D Additional Information Form – a guide

What is an Additional Information Form? 

The Additional Information Form (AIF) provides detailed information on an R&D claim to HMRC. It must be submitted through HMRC’s portal before your R&D claim is made on your tax return: the automatically generated receipt token code must be inserted into your tax return.  

Why it is important for your business 

Failure to deliver an AIF will invalidate your R&D claim, and you won’t be able to get any tax relief.  

When is an Additional Information Form required? 

An AIF is required for every R&D claim made on a tax return, and all details must be entered, even if you are making a second or later year claim on the same project.  

AIFs are submitted on a company-by-company basis - groups will have to file AIFs separately for every company undertaking qualifying R&D projects. Even groups large enough to have a Customer Compliance Manager at HMRC will still have to submit AIFs online.  

HMRC imposed this claims process from 8 August 2023 in an attempt to reduce the level of ‘error and fraud’ it estimated was occurring in R&D claims. AIFs are required for all R&D claims made from that date - regardless of which accounting period they relate to. 

What information is required on the Additional Information Form? 

As this is a standalone system, the form requires data to identify your company such as your company number, VAT registration number, PAYE reference, SIC code etc., as well as practical information like the name of any agent/adviser who is helping you compile the R&D claim. The form must show the name of a responsible individual from your company (i.e. the research or finance director) who approved it for submission. 

For each claim, the form requires a technical explanation of the project to help HMRC establish if the work meets the definition of R&D. This must be done by answering the following specific questions:  

• What is the main field of science or technology?  
• What existing scientific or technological knowledge at the start of the project did you plan to advance?  
• What advance in scientific or technological knowledge did you aim to achieve?  
• What scientific or technological uncertainties did you face?  
• How did the project seek to overcome these uncertainties? 

If your claim covers up to three projects, these descriptions must cover all projects and consequently all qualifying costs. For companies with more than three projects, the disclosure is required for a minimum of three projects and a maximum of 10, as long as those projects disclosed cover over 50% of qualifying R&D expenditure. Where those 10 projects do not cover 50% of qualifying R&D expenditure, the company should present the 10 largest projects. 

The AIF also asks for details of the costs for each project, broken down under the following categories: 

• Staffing Costs 
• Externally Provided Workers 
• Consumable items 
• Contracted-out R&D 
• Contributions to independent R&D costs 
• Software Licenses 
• Payments to clinical trial participants 
• Cloud computing services 
• Data Licenses 
• The amount of qualifying expenditure that is a result of qualifying indirect activities. 

However, as this is an online form-filling process, it is not currently possible to submit separate documents (e.g. about methodology development), diagrams, figures and tables. It is not possible to access a copy of the details entered after you hit the ‘submit’ button.
 

Help with your R&D claims  

Our specialist R&D team can work hand in hand with your technical teams to analyse the background to your projects and assess whether they will qualify for R&D tax credits.  

We can help you compile, test and validate all the relevant cost data for your claim and complete and submit all relevant forms - get in touch with us for help and advice. 

Contact us