Apply for advance assurance on a Research and Development (R&D) tax relief claim
Ask HMRC if your first R&D Corporation Tax relief claim will be accepted, if you're a small and medium-sized enterprise.
There may be other steps you must complete before applying for advance assurance. Check the steps you need to take to correctly claim R&D tax relief.
What advance assurance is
Advance assurance is a voluntary scheme that allows you to send HMRC details of your company’s R&D work, before claiming R&D tax relief on your Company Tax Return.
We’ll check the details in your application and if we agree the relief applies to you, we’ll guarantee the claim will be accepted, as long as it’s in line with what was discussed and agreed in your application. This is known as an ‘advance assurance agreement’.
The advance assurance agreement will be for your first 3 accounting periods only.
An advance assurance agreement does not mean that you’ve claimed the R&D tax relief. You must still claim it using your Company Tax Return.
Who can apply
You can apply for advance assurance if you’re a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) and:
- it’s your first-time claiming R&D tax relief
- your company has a turnover below £2 million and less than 50 employees
- you’re planning to carry out R&D
- you’ve already carried out R&D and have not claimed R&D tax relief yet
- you’re part of a group, and none of the companies linked to you have previously claimed R&D tax relief
Who can complete the application
You can complete the application yourself or your agent can do it for you.
Who cannot apply
You cannot apply if you’re:
- a large company
- entered into a Disclosable Tax Avoidance Scheme (DOTAS)
- a corporate serious defaulter — if this applies to you, you’ll have a letter from HMRC about it
What information you’ll need
To apply for advance assurance you’ll need:
- your company accounts
- your company registration documents from Companies House
- any HMRC correspondence relating to your advance assurance application
- previous Company Tax Returns (not needed for new companies)
- the name of a main contact, for example a research manager or company director with direct knowledge of the company’s R&D to discuss the application with HMRC
- to give some basic information about your company
- to give detailed information about your company’s R&D activities — including explaining the scientific or technological uncertainties and how you’ve tried to overcome them
- to give information on the costs related to your R&D activities
Apply online
You’ll need to sign in with your Government Gateway user ID and password (if you do not have a user ID, you can create one when you use first try to sign in).
If you cannot apply online
If you’re unable to apply online you can print the form and post it to HMRC. There’s 2 ways you can do this, you can either:
- fill in the form online and print
- download the form to your computer, complete it and print
You cannot use these forms to make a claim for tax relief or to make changes to an existing tax relief claim.
Fill in the form online and print
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Get all of your information together before you start, as you cannot save your progress.
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Print and post it to HMRC, using the postal address shown on the form.
This file may not be suitable if you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader). If you need a more accessible format, email different.format@hmrc.gov.uk and tell us what format you need. It will help if you tell us what assistive technology you use. Read the accessibility statement for HMRC forms.
If the form does not open, contact the online services helpdesk.
Download the form to your computer, complete it and print
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Download and save the form to your computer.
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Open it using the latest free version of Adobe Reader.
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Complete it on-screen.
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Print and post it to HMRC, using the postal address shown on the form.
The form may not work if you try to open it in your internet browser. If the form does not open, contact the online services helpdesk.
Email HMRC to ask for this form in Welsh.
After you’ve applied
HMRC will contact you by email to arrange a telephone call with your company so that we can talk about your R&D in more detail. This is normally a short telephone call, but it may involve a longer discussion or a visit to your company if the case is more complex.
We will then send you a letter telling you if your application for advance assurance was successful or not.
If you’re given advance assurance
We will send you a letter explaining your company’s responsibilities and what happens if your R&D activities change.
We may contact you after you’ve submitted your first claim on your Company Tax Return, to check it matches the details in your advance assurance application.
If you’re not given advance assurance
We will send you a letter detailing the reasons why. You will not be able to appeal this decision or re-submit an application for advance assurance. If you still think you’re due R&D tax relief you can submit a claim in your Company Tax Return.
What you need to do next
You must tell HMRC you want to claim R&D tax relief before you claim it on your Company Tax Return by completing a claim notification form. If you’ve applied for advance assurance, you still need to do this form.
Updates to this page
Published 30 November 2015Last updated 21 July 2023 + show all updates
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The information about when your application will be accepted and how long it will be valid for has been clarified. The sections 'When you can apply', ‘When you cannot apply’ and 'What you will need' have been updated. The 'How to apply' section now includes the application form and how to complete it. The mandatory date of ‘1 August 2023’ to submit an additional information form has been changed to ‘8 August 2023’ in ‘Before you claim R&D tax relief’, step 2.
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More information has been added about what you will need to apply for advance assurance and what happens after you’ve applied. A new section has been added to tell you what you need to do before you claim R&D tax relief for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2023 and for claims from 1 August 2023.
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The overview on Advance Assurance webinar has been removed.
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A new pre-recorded webinar giving an overview on Advance Assurance has been added to this page.
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First published.