Research and Development (R&D) Tax Relief Reform - screening equality impact assessment
Published 3 April 2023
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-and-development-tax-relief-reform/research-and-development-rd-tax-relief-reform-screening-equality-impact-assessment
Project objectives
The Research and Development (R&D) tax relief review was announced at Spring Budget 21. The objective is to ensure that the UK remains a competitive location for cutting edge research, the reliefs continue to be fit for purpose and taxpayer money is effectively targeted.
Providing a reformed approach to R&D reliefs will greatly improve the targeting of the current schemes and should help support R&D expenditure
We need to target our tax reliefs better, to get better value for the UK taxpayer and to prevent abusive claims.
The costs of the reliefs have been rising directly because of the increasing popularity of the schemes for claimants, driven in large part by abuse and boundary-pushing. Tackling this could help slow the rise in costs, reduce potential fraud and error claims and free up HMRC resource to improve risk assessment and increase coverage of the population.
This screening equality impact assessment relates to the operational delivery of the reforms.
Customer groups affected
The customer groups that will be impacted by the change are:
- employers
-
agents
- payroll software providers
What customers will need to do
There will be a change in the process for submitting R&D Tax Relief claims outlined below.
From 1 April 2023
The claim notification online form will be mandatory for companies who have accounting periods starting on or after 1 April 2023, unless they have made an R&D claim or a claim notification during the period of three years ending with the day before the first day of the claim notification period, or they make their actual claim within 6 months of the end of the period.
The claim notification period starts on the first day of the period of account that contains the accounting period that the company intends to make the R&D claim in.
The earliest date that a claim notification online form can be submitted is on the first day of the Period of Account to which the claim relates.
The latest date for submitting the claim notification online form is 6 months after the end of the Period of Account that includes the relevant accounting period.
Claim notification online forms will need to be submitted in advance or at the same time as submitting the CT600. Box 656 on the CT600 must be populated with an X to confirm the mandated form has been submitted.
Please note that the Advanced Assurance online form does not negate the requirement for claim notification.
From 1 August 2023
All R&D Tax Relief claims will require the Additional Information online form to be submitted in advance of or at the same time as the CT600. Box 657 on the CT600 must be populated with an X to confirm the mandated form has been submitted.
This applies to all claims, including for periods beginning before 1 April 2023.
How customers will access this service
CT600 is submitted by third party software providers. Paper and accessible formats are available on GOV.UK to download for digitally excluded customers, providing they send a WT1 form.
Online forms will be available on GOV.UK and will meet accessibility standards. The online forms will not be available to download.
Digitally excluded customers would need to contact the CT Helpline where HMRC staff will advise the customer on how to submit their information.
When customers need to do this
The claim notification requirement will apply to companies with accounting periods starting on or after the 1 April 2023 and the Additional Information online form will be required for all claims submitted from the 1 August 2023.
Assessing the impact
We assessed the equality impacts on the protected characteristic groups in line with the Equality Act and Public Sector Equality Duty and section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act:
- racial groups
- sex gender reassignment
- sexual orientation
- age
- religion or belief
- pregnancy and maternity
- marriage and civil partnership
- people with dependents and those without
- political opinion (for Northern Ireland only)
- people who use different languages (Including Welsh Language and British Sign Language)
We do not anticipate that there will be impacts on customers within any of the protected characteristic groups listed above. Extra support will be provided as required.
Disabled
Impacts on customers
Some disabled customers may be unable to interact digitally
Proposed mitigations
Paper and accessible formats of the CT600 are available on GOV.UK to download for digitally excluded customers.
Online forms will be available on GOV.UK and will meet accessibility standards.
As the online forms will not be available to download, digitally excluded customers will need to contact the CT Helpline where HMRC staff will advise customer on how to submit their information.
Opportunities to promote equalities
We have considered opportunities to promote equalities and good relations between people in each of the protected characteristic groups and those outside of that group.
None have been identified.
A full equality impact assessment is not recommended.