How to use this page
The accordion below carries the twelve questions we hear most. Each answer is the short version; the linked pages hold the detail, the worked examples and the gov.uk sources. Three habits are worth taking from it even if you read nothing else. Date every question by accounting period. Treat headline rates as gross, not net. And put the two deadlines, notification and the two-year limit, in a calendar before deciding anything else.
Frequently asked questions
Do we qualify for R&D tax relief?
Possibly, and never automatically. You need to be a company within UK Corporation Tax, and the work must seek a genuine advance in science or technology through uncertainty a competent professional could not readily resolve. Plenty of skilled work does not meet that test, and we say so when it does not.
What is the relief worth?
Under the merged scheme, roughly 15p to 16.2p net per pound of qualifying spend once the taxable credit is netted down; up to about 27p under ERIS for loss-making, R&D-intensive SMEs. The base, your qualifying costs, decides more than the rate does.
Which scheme are we in?
For accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024: the merged scheme for most companies; ERIS only where you are an SME, loss-making before the extra deduction, and R&D-intensive on the 30% test counting connected companies.
How far back can we claim?
Generally two years from the end of the period of account. For periods beginning on or after 1 April 2023, first-time and lapsed claimants also face the claim-notification window, which closes six months after the period ends and cannot be reopened.
What paperwork is mandatory now?
A claim notification for first-time and lapsed claimants, and an Additional Information Form for every claim, submitted before or with the return, naming the responsible senior officer and every agent involved. Return first means rejection.
Will our claim be checked?
It genuinely might: HMRC reported checking about 17% of claims in 2023-24, part random, part risk-based. Payment is not approval, and the sensible posture is a claim built to be checked.
What happens in an enquiry?
A compliance check by correspondence: questions, your evidence, a conclusion that accepts, adjusts or rejects. Cooperation shortens it and reduces any penalty; the routes to challenge a bad outcome are review, mediation and tribunal.
What if a past claim was wrong?
Correct it on your initiative: amend within the two-year window, or use HMRC's disclosure facility beyond it. Penalties are behaviour-based and reward moving first, an unprompted careless-error disclosure can reduce to nil.
Do we need an adviser?
No, a company can prepare and submit its own claim, and HMRC's process supports that. Advice earns its fee where the boundary rules bite, contractors, overseas, groups, the cap, or where nobody in-house can carry the technical case.
What does InnoClaim charge?
A fixed fee, agreed before any work starts and set by the complexity of your claim, covering preparation and submission. Enquiry support is not included; if HMRC opens an enquiry, that sits outside the engagement. If we do not think there is a claim, we say so at the outset, without a fee.
Does HMRC approve claims when it pays them?
No. Payment is processing, not approval, and claims can be checked after the money moves. The company, through its named senior officer, remains responsible for what was claimed.
Does grant funding reduce the claim?
Not under the merged scheme: the old subsidised-expenditure restriction was deliberately not carried forward, so an Innovate UK grant no longer cuts your relief. Grants still shape the arithmetic through your loss position.