R&D HMRC Additional Information Forms

New Additional Information Form

HMRC now require all companies that want to claim Research and Development Tax Credits to
submit an additional information form (AIF) for all R&D claims being filed from 8th August 2023 and
this applies to all claimants of R&D claims.

This form will need to be submitted to HMRC before you submit your corporation tax return, failure
to comply with this requirement will result in HMRC removing your R&D claim from your company
tax return so it is very important that this is done to prevent any delays in the processing of your R&D
claims.

Who makes the submission?

The submission can be made by:

• A company representative
• An agent acting for the company

Information needed to be provided to HMRC

About the company

You will need to supply the following information to HMRC:

• Company Unique Taxpayer Reference
• Employer PAYE reference
• Vat registration number
• Company business classification for example your Standard Industrial Classification code

Contact Details

• Contact details of the main senior person within the company responsible for the R&D claim,
  this will normally a company director
• The contact details of any tax agent involved in the R&D claim

Qualifying Expenditure

The accounting period start and end date appertaining to the R&D relief being claimed and this must
match the dates on your company tax return. Additionally, the following information needs to be
supplied to HMRC:

Qualifying expenditure details – subject to meeting the conditions you can claim either or both:
- Tax relief as a small and medium enterprise (SME)
- Expenditure credit as a large company or SME

Detailed information needs to be provided appertaining to the type of qualifying expenditure being
claimed for.

R&D Project Details

You will need to provide the number of all the projects you are claiming R&D for in the relevant
accounting period.

If the claim consists of up to three projects, you will need to detail the projects that you are claiming
for that include 100% of the qualifying expenditure.

If you are claiming for between 4 and 10 projects, you will need to detail the projects that cover at
least 50% of the total qualifying expenditure and a minimum of three projects being detailed.

If you are claiming for between 11 and 100+ projects, then you will need to detail the projects that
consist of at least 50% of the total expenditure, with a minimum of three projects being detailed. If
you have qualifying expenditure split across many smaller projects, you will need to detail the 10
projects with the highest qualifying expenditure.

Baseline level of science or technology

Very importantly, you will need to outline the level of knowledge that was in existence at the time of
the commencement of the project that the company intended to advance.

Such as:
Improving new materials – what were the existing capabilities of the materials before the intended
advancement.

Aims of advancement in science or technology

You will need to provide an outline of the advance using the baseline level of science or technology
mentioned above as a comparison.

Uncertainties of the project

This is absolutely paramount to the claim as you will need to show what scientific or technological
uncertainties the company faced during the life of the project being undertaken.

The description should clearly illustrate what is stopping the company from achieving the scientific or
technological advancement.

It is also important to focus on why it is a scientific or technological uncertainty for the industry as a
whole and not just on your company.

You should also explain if a competent professional working in the chosen field of science or
technology would be uncertain as to how to achieve the advancement then back this up with logical
reasoning.

How did your project seek to overcome the uncertainties

You will need to provide further information on the R&D activities being carried out in an attempt to
try and resolve the scientific or technological uncertainties.

You will need to explain in detail:

Why the R&D project was not straightforward.

The methodologies planned and used to overcome specific uncertainties.

If the uncertainties were resolved and how were they resolved. If uncertainties were not resolved,
explain why they were not resolved.

This is not an exhaustive list of the information needing to be disclosed to HMRC but the above
information details the most important details that you now need to provide to HMRC for R&D
claims being filed from 8 August 2023.

If you require any further information on this, please do not hesitate to contact us by email at
enquiries@rdincentives-leeds.co.uk