As previously mentioned, HMRC is moving to obtain more information to submit R&D tax credit claims. This is to curb abuse and better track the eligibility of claims. So as of the 1^st of August 2023, any company making an R&D claim will have to supply additional information through the Government Gateway portal.

Every claimant MUST complete and submit this information to HMRC to claim R&D Tax Credits. This also needs to be done before a company submits their Corporation Tax Return. But if a company does not do this, HMRC will write to the company stating that their R&D Tax Credit claim will be removed from the Company Tax Return. This information will be in addition to the filing requirements on the CT600.

So, furthermore, any company filing for the first time (or any company that has not filed a claim in the past 3 tax years) must fill out a notification on the portal. So, this will notify HMRC  that the company will be filing an R&D Tax Credit claim.

Additional Information

The information to be entered into the portal will need to include:

• Description of the R&D work that was undertaken and how the project meets the R&D criteria of technological uncertainty, technological advancement, and systematic investigation.
• Breakdown of all qualifying costs.
• Full details of the agent who is advising on the R&D Tax Credit claim.
• Senior officer of the company who is signing off on the claim.

For the qualifying expenditure costs, SMEs and RDEC can claim for:

• Cloud Computing Costs which include storage and Data licence cost – these apply to accounting periods starting on or after the 1^st of April 2023.
• Consumable items, which include materials and utilities.
• Software.
• Staffing Costs.
• Externally provided workers.
• Subcontractor costs
• Payments to participants that are in or have been in a clinical trial.

ICP – Innovation Connection Programme

So to help fill your company’s future claims more efficiently, RDP Associates have developed the Innovation Connection Program (ICP). The system has been designed to help identify and capture all R&D work in real-time. This should only take one person 15 minutes once a month to update the system. RDP will liaise with the client regularly to ensure the system is being kept up appropriately.

View here for more information about RDP Associates’ unique and proprietary program.

Questions RDP can help with

• Do you have any questions regarding the new R&D Tax Credit Portal or how to submit R&D Tax Credit Claims
• Maybe you have received a compliance check from HMRC that you would like us to look at it and then discuss our thoughts on it.
• Or do you need help with writing up the technical part of the narrative?

If you have answered yes to any of these, then please contact Jenni at [email protected] today. We are here to help every step of the way and take the pressure off you and your company.