R&D Tax Claimants to complete an AIF from August 2023

From Tuesday 8^th August 2023, R&D Tax Credits Claimants must complete an Additional Information Form (AIF) and submit this to HMRC in support of their R&D claims’ eligibility. The AIF has to be submitted prior to the submission of the company’s Corporation Tax Return otherwise HMRC will deem the claim invalid.

Each of the R&D projects documented should highlight:

• The main fields of science and technology.
• The scientific or technological knowledge at the start of the project or the project’s baseline.
• The scientific or technological knowledge the R&D work sought to achieve.
• The scientific and technological uncertainties prevailing at the project’s outset.
• The methodology undertaken to overcome the uncertainties.

Additionally, the new AIF requires the claimant to specify the type of qualifying expenditure for each project (i.e., SME or RDEC), and the split of qualifying expenditure per project.

In terms of the number of projects which details should be provided for, if the claim is for 1 to 3 projects, a description for each project must be provided to cover 100% of the qualifying expenditure. If the claim is for 4 to 10 projects, a description needs to be provided for the projects that account for at least 50% of the total expenditure with a minimum of 3 projects. For more than 11 projects the claimant needs to describe those projects that account for at least 50% of the total expenditure with a minimum of 3 projects described. In case the split is across multiple smaller projects, then the description is required for the 10 with the most qualifying expenditure.

At Wilson Partners, our experienced R&D team ensure our project writeups capture all the requirements of the AIF. We can also help put processes in place to capture costs project by project in real time so that when it comes to preparing your claim a large chunk of the work will already have been done.

If you are struggling to work out whether your projects meet the definition of R&D for tax purposes or need some help preparing the new AIF Wilson Partners can help.