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CREC080200 - Claims: introduction

The Creatives Expenditure Credits are Corporation Tax regimes.

Production companies can only claim credits through Corporation Tax Self Assessment (CTSA).

A valid claim consists of two parts:

The claim is considered to be made at the time at which it is submitted in the company’s tax return. This means that the form and all supporting evidence must have been received by HMRC on or before the day on which the return is filed. If any mandatory information is missing or incomplete, then the claim will be invalid and HMRC may amend the CT600 to remove the claim.

The additional information form must be submitted to HMRC on or before the day the company’s tax return for the period is filed. If the form is submitted after this, then the company’s tax return must be amended and the claim re-submitted (even if no changes are required to the CT600), in order for it to be recognised as a valid claim by HMRC.

The supporting evidence must be provided as attachments to the form; there are prompts requiring the evidence to be uploaded at appropriate points.

HMRC has produced templates which can assist companies in calculating their credit entitlement and in determining how much of that credit will be payable to the company. These templates can be attached to the additional information form as part of the necessary supporting evidence.

Claims must be made digitally through the online Corporation Tax gateway, and they can be made via an amendment. Claims in any other format (e.g. via email) will not be accepted.

While the claim in the CT600 can be amended through the normal process to amend a tax return, the additional information form cannot be amended. It can only be displaced by a new version, if the company sends in another form covering the same accounting period.

As claims are made through CTSA, they must be calculated in reference to the company’s accounting period and the return should be accompanied by the company’s accounts.

The time limit to make or amend a claim is two years from the end of the company’s period of account, or 42 months from the beginning of the period of account for long periods of account (over 18 months). Any claim received after this will be considered late. See CREC085000 for full details of the time limits.