2023 has already seen several changes to the R&D tax relief schemes. However, there is an additional change coming into effect on 1 August 2023.  Any company submitting a claim on, or after 1 August 2023 must also submit an additional information form to HMRC. This applies to both claims under the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) scheme and the Research and Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC) scheme.

The form must be submitted before the company’s CT600 is submitted to HMRC.  Failure to do so will result in HMRC removing the R&D tax relief claim from the CT600.

The CT600 has also been updated to include box 657, which must be completed to indicate that the additional information form has been submitted.

Who Can Submit the Form

The form must be submitted online by either a representative of the company or an agent acting on behalf of the company.

The form is accessed and submitted through the company or agent’s HMRC account.  The form must be submitted even if an R&D report is also included with the R&D claim.

What Information Must Be Submitted

The new form requires a significant amount of information.  All the following information must be completed before the form can be submitted:

Company Information

This includes the company name, UTR number, VAT number, PAYE number, business type and contact details.  The contact details must include the name of the person responsible for the R&D claim within the company, as well as the details of any agent involved with the claim.

Qualifying Expenditure

The total expenditure included within the claim must be broken down into the allowable categories of staffing costs, externally provided workers, subcontractors, software, consumable items, data license costs, cloud computing costs and payments to clinical trials volunteers.

In addition, any expenditure incurred on qualifying indirect activities must also be identified.

Technical Details of the Projects Claimed For

This should include the technical or scientific advance that the project aimed to achieve, the baseline knowledge at the start of the project, the uncertainties that arose and how they were overcome.  The qualifying expenditure also needs to be split out by project.

HMRC have specified the number of projects that must be detailed in the additional information form.  This is based on the total number of projects that are included in the claim.

To find out how we can help with the preparation and submission of the additional information to HMRC contact us on 029 9040 6295 or e-mail rb@pgradvisory.com.