Carrie Rutland
Partner, Innovation Incentives
A claim notification ensures that the claimant company has the right to submit a claim for R&D tax credits. It applies when a company makes a claim for the first time, or after a defined period of not claiming.
If the notification is required but you don’t submit it, any claim you make will simply be struck out by HMRC.
The rules are complex and can easily trap the unwary, so you should take particular care with anything that can affects your accounting periods, like shortened or lengthened periods.
Groups of companies acquiring new subsidiaries where no claims have previously been made, or where trading divisions are hived down into new companies, are also at risk of overlooking the need for a claim notification.
The advance notification requirement applies for accounting periods commencing on or after 1 April 2023. The company must notify its intention to claim R&D relief during the relevant accounting period or, at the latest, within 6 months of the end of the relevant accounting period. For example, if your company is intending to claim for the first time for your financial year to 30 June 2024, you should have notified HMRC between 1 July 2023 and 31 December 2024.
However, the notification requirement does not apply if regular claims have been submitted within normal filing deadlines. So, following the above example, if your company made an R&D claim for any ‘in date’ accounting period within the three years from the end of the claim notification period (i.e. in the period 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2024), you would not need to notify HMRC of your intention to make a claim for its financial year to 30 June 2024.
The reference to normal filing deadlines is critical as any R&D claim made (for any accounting period commencing before 1 April 2023) by amending a corporation tax return (for amended returns submitted after 1 April 2023) is disregarded.
It's important to remember that R&D claims are made on a company-by-company basis, which means that separate notifications may be required for several companies in a group. Equally, the notification deadline is 6 months after the end of the accounting period – so if your company has a short accounting period (e.g. if an accounting period has been changed following a takeover) this will shorten the notification period too.
Speak to one of our R&D tax experts to find out how we can help you sort out your claims.
You will need to complete a standalone online HMRC form. The form requires data to identify your company (company number, VAT registration number, PAYE reference, SIC code etc.) as well as practical information such as the name of any agent/adviser who is helping you compile your R&D claim. The form must show the name of a responsible individual from your company (for example, the R&D or finance director) who approves it for submission.
The form also requires a ‘summary of the high-level planned activities’ for the R&D project – far less information than will be required when submitting the Additional Information Form that you must submit to validate an R&D claim itself. Nevertheless, it is important that the details you notify to HMRC say why you think the project will meet the R&D definitions.
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.
