Tell HMRC you want to claim Research and Development (R&D) tax relief
Check if you need to submit a claim notification form before you claim R&D Corporation Tax relief, what information you’ll need to provide and how to send it.
There may be other steps you must complete before submitting a claim notification form. Check the steps you need to take to correctly claim R&D tax relief.
Who needs to submit the form
If you’re planning to claim R&D tax relief or expenditure credit for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2023, you must submit a claim notification form if:
- you’re claiming for the first time
- your last claim was made more than 3 years before the last date of the ‘claim notification period’ — use the guidance on this page to work out if this applies to you
To complete and submit the form you must be either:
- a representative of the company
- an agent acting on behalf of the company
When to submit the form — claim notification period
You must submit the form within certain dates known as the ‘claim notification period’. If you do not, your R&D tax relief claim will be invalid.
Your claim notification period depends on the:
- ‘period of account’ — the time covered by your financial statements (this might cover a period longer than 12 months)
- ‘accounting period’ or periods that fall within your period of account — the time covered by your Company Tax Return (this cannot cover a period longer than 12 months)
For more information, read about accounting periods for Corporation Tax.
Working out your claim notification period
Your claim notification period:
- starts on the first day of the ‘period of account’ — this is the first date of your notification period
- ends 6 months after the end of the ‘period of account’ — this is the last date of your claim notification period
If you’re claiming for a ‘period of account’ that’s 12 months or less, your ‘accounting period’ will usually cover the same time as your ‘period of account’.
If you’re claiming for a ‘period of account’ that’s more than 12 months, it will include 2 or more ‘accounting periods’. The claim notification period is the same for all accounting periods.
If you’re claiming R&D tax relief for the first time
You must submit the claim notification form within the claim notification period.
If you’re claiming for a ‘period of account’ that’s more than 12 months, you only need to submit the form for one of the accounting periods.
If you’ve claimed R&D tax relief previously
If you’ve claimed R&D tax relief within 3 years of the last date of your claim notification period you do not need to send a claim notification form, unless any of the following exceptions apply:
- HMRC rejected your R&D tax relief claim by removing it from your Company Tax Return
- you claimed R&D tax relief for an accounting period beginning before 1 April 2023 by amending your tax return and the amendment was received on or after 1 April 2023
If you made a claim more than 3 years before the last date of your claim notification period or if any of the exceptions apply, you’ll need to either:
- submit the claim notification form by the ‘last date of the claim notification period’
- send the R&D tax relief claim on your Company Tax Return or as an amendment to the return, so that it’s received by the ‘last date of the claim notification period’
Example of a claim notification period for a ‘period of account’ that’s 12 months or less
A company’s:
- period of account — covers 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024
- accounting period — also covers 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024
This means the company’s:
- first date of the claim notification period is 1 January 2024
- last date of the claim notification period is 30 June 2025 (this is 6 months after the end of the ‘period of account’)
If the company is claiming R&D tax relief for the first time, they must submit the claim notification form between 1 January 2024 and 30 June 2025.
If the company has claimed R&D tax relief previously and their last claim was before 30 June 2022 (this is more than 3 years before 30 June 2025) they must either:
- submit the claim notification form between 1 January 2024 and 30 June 2025
- send the claim on their Company Tax Return or as an amendment to the return so it’s received by 30 June 2025
Example of a claim notification period for a ‘period of account’ that’s more than 12 months
A company’s ‘period of account’ covers 1 January 2024 to 30 June 2025.
The company’s accounting periods are:
- 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024
- 1 January 2025 to 30 June 2025
This means the company’s:
- first date of the claim notification period is 1 January 2024
- last date of the claim notification period is 31 December 2025 (this is 6 months after the end of the ‘period of account’)
If the company is claiming R&D tax relief for the first time, they must submit the claim notification form between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2025.
If the company has claimed R&D tax relief previously and their last claim was before 31 December 2022 (this is more than 3 years before 31 December 2025) they must either:
- submit the claim notification form between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2025
- send the claim on their Company Tax Return or as an amendment to the return so it’s received by 31 December 2025
What information you’ll need
To complete the claim notification form you’ll need:
- the company’s Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) — this must match the one shown in your Company Tax Return
- the contact details of the main senior internal R&D contact in the company who is responsible for the R&D tax relief claim, for example a company director
- the contact details of all agents involved in the R&D tax relief claim — including any agent who has given advice, analysed costs, helped prepare technical assessments, given information for or completed the online forms or Company Tax Return
- the accounting period start and end date that you’re claiming the tax relief or expenditure credit for — this must match the one shown in your Company Tax Return
- the period of account start and end date
- a summary of the high-level planned activities, for example if you’ve developed software you’ll need to include what it’ll be used for to show that the project meets the standard definition of R&D — you do not need to include evidence on the claim notification form, but you’ll be asked to give additional information before you claim R&D tax relief on your return
If you’re a large business customer
If you’re a large business and have any questions about the claim notification form, you can contact the Large Business Directorate. You should use the relevant contact us email address and copy in your customer compliance manager.
Submit your form
Online services may be slow during busy times. Check if there are any problems with this service.
You’ll need to either:
- sign in with your Government Gateway user ID and password (if you do not have a user ID, you can create one when you first try to sign in)
- use your email address to get a confirmation code that you can use to sign in
You will not be able to access the form once it’s been submitted, so save a copy before you submit it.
What to expect after you’ve submitted
You’ll get an email that will:
- confirm we’ve received the form
- give you a reference number
Keep a note of this reference number so that:
- you can discuss your claim notification form with HMRC
- if we need to, we can check that you’ve submitted your claim notification form
What you need to do next
If you decide not to continue with your claim after you’ve submitted the notification form, you do not need to do anything further.
If you decide to continue with your claim, you need to work out your R&D tax relief.
Updates to this page
Published 1 April 2023Last updated 31 October 2024 + show all updates
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Clarification and improved explanations added for when to submit the form and working out your claim notification period. Also clarified guidance on 'what you need to do next' added.
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Clarification added of who needs to submit a claim notification form, the statutory deadline for doing so and which agents involved in the claim need to provide contact details.
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The guidance on when you must notify and when you may need to notify HMRC by submitting a claim notification form has been clarified. A new section 'Before you start' has been added to help you check your understanding of when to submit a claim notification form. The information on when you must submit an additional information form has been updated from 1 August 2023 to 8 August 2023, and the text regarding voluntary submission of the additional information form before the mandatory date has been removed.
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The dates in example 1 and example 2 in the section 'When you must notify by' have been amended to show the correct periods of account and submission dates.
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Added translation