by Mel Hackney

Do you think your company might be eligible for Research and Development tax relief? If so, it’s more important than ever to be communicating with your accountant and making sure that you aren’t caught out by the new rules in place and subsequently prevented from submitting a claim.

For accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2023, you must submit a claim notification form to HMRC in advance of being able to claim R&D relief if:

• you’re claiming for the first time
• your last claim was made more than 3 years before the last date of the claim notification period

This new requirement is part of a package of measures announced at the Autumn Statement 2021 to target abuse and improve compliance in the R&D regime. 

Therefore, even though this has been known about for some time, it is now that this is becoming increasingly relevant as periods beginning on or after 1 April 2023 are coming to an end.

A claim notification can be submitted at any time from the first day of the relevant accounting period up to six months from the end of the period of account.

Claim notifications have to be submitted using a dedicated online form.

If a claim notification is required, failure to submit by the relevant deadline will mean any subsequent R&D claim for that period is invalid – as such, this could be a very costly mistake.

We have lots of experience of R&D claims here at FW. Get in touch if you think your company might be eligible. We will give you an honest and upfront view on whether we think your claim is likely to be successful.