R&D Tax Credit Claim Preparation by UK Specialists
An R&D tax credit claim is prepared in five stages: confirming which projects qualify, measuring the qualifying costs, writing the technical narrative, submitting the Additional Information Form and putting the figures into your Corporation Tax return. We match you with a specialist who handles all five and stands behind the claim if HMRC asks questions.
What does R&D claim preparation include?
Claim preparation includes everything needed to submit a compliant claim, from the first eligibility conversation to the figures in your CT600. A complete service should cover each of these:
Eligibility review
Testing each project against the government guidelines: the advance sought, the uncertainty, and when the R&D started and stopped.
Cost review
Apportioning staff, contractor, software, cloud, data and consumable costs to qualifying activity, with the method recorded.
Technical narrative
A clear report explaining the baseline, the uncertainties and the work done, written so a non-specialist HMRC officer can follow it.
Additional Information Form
The online form HMRC requires before the return, with project details, cost breakdowns and named contacts.
Return figures
The R&D figures in your Corporation Tax computation and CT600, coordinated with your accountant.
How is the claim calculated under the merged scheme?
Under the merged scheme, your company receives an R&D expenditure credit worth 20% of qualifying expenditure. The credit is taxable, so the net benefit is about 15p per pound for a company paying the 25% main rate and about 16.2p for a company on the 19% small profits rate or one that is loss-making, where a notional 19% rate applies. The credit is set against your Corporation Tax bill first, then paid out or carried forward through a set order of steps.
Applies to accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024. If your period started earlier, the legacy SME scheme or the old RDEC may apply instead, and the specialist should model both where a period straddles the change.
Example. A profitable SME paying 25% tax with £200,000 of qualifying spend would receive a gross credit of £40,000, worth about £30,000 after tax. Try your own figures in the calculator.
What costs can go into a claim?
Qualifying costs fall into a set list: staff costs, externally provided workers, subcontracted R&D, consumable items, software, cloud computing and data licences, and payments to clinical trial volunteers. Since 1 April 2024, contracted-out work and externally provided workers generally have to be UK based, with narrow exceptions. Our qualifying costs guide covers each category.
What makes a claim robust?
A robust claim is one that a sceptical HMRC officer can check quickly and agree with. In practice that means:
- Projects described by the technical uncertainty, not by the product or the commercial goal
- A clear baseline of what was already known or possible when the project started
- Costs apportioned with a method you could explain at a meeting, backed by records
- Start and end points for the R&D, so routine work afterwards is excluded
- Consistency with previous claims and with your statutory accounts
- A senior officer who has read and understood the claim before it goes in
Why use a specialist rather than doing it in house?
A specialist adds most value on first claims, on technical projects that are hard to explain, and where costs involve contractors, connected companies or grants. They have seen how HMRC tests claims and can tell you which projects to leave out, which is often as valuable as finding new ones. If your claims are small, simple and repeat every year, your accountant may be enough.
What should you ask before appointing a firm?
- Who will write the technical narrative, and what is their background in our field?
- What is the fee, what is it calculated on, and is there a minimum?
- Is enquiry support included, and for how long after filing?
- Will you work with our accountant on the return?
- Which professional body are you a member of, and are you registered with HMRC as a tax adviser?
Our full checklist for choosing a specialist goes further.
What happens at each stage of a claim?
Stage 1: the scoping call
The scoping call is a 30 to 60 minute conversation where the specialist learns what your company does, which projects ran in the period and roughly what you spent. A good specialist will already be testing each project against the definition of R&D and will tell you early if something is unlikely to qualify. They should also check your accounting period dates and whether a claim notification is due.
Stage 2: technical interviews
Technical interviews are where the claim is won or lost. The specialist speaks to the people who did the work, usually the technical lead for each project, and asks what the baseline was, what they could not do at the start, what they tried, what failed and what they learned. Expect one interview per significant project. The output is a set of notes that becomes the technical narrative and the project descriptions in the Additional Information Form.
Stage 3: cost collection and apportionment
Cost collection turns your payroll, contractor, software, cloud and materials records into qualifying expenditure. The specialist will agree an apportionment method for each person, such as timesheets, sprint allocations or a reasoned estimate signed off by the technical lead, and record the reasoning. They will separate costs that need special treatment: connected parties, overseas work, externally provided workers and anything funded by grants.
Stage 4: drafting and your review
The specialist drafts the technical report, the cost schedule and the AIF answers, then sends them to you. Read them carefully. You should recognise every project description and be able to explain every number. Ask for changes where something is overstated or unclear. Your company signs off the claim, so your review is not a formality.
Stage 5: submission and follow up
The AIF is submitted first, then your accountant or the specialist files the Corporation Tax return or amended return with the R&D figures. HMRC then processes the claim. Payment times vary, and claims selected for a compliance check take longer. Keep the full claim pack, including interview notes and workings, for at least six years.
How much time will your team need to give?
For a typical SME claim, expect a few hours from finance to pull records and one to two hours from each technical lead for interviews and review. First claims take longer because the specialist is learning your business and you are setting up record keeping. Repeat claims are usually quicker, especially if you keep project notes during the year.
Is the claim notification still required?
Yes, for now. A claim notification is still required within six months of the end of the period of account if you are a first-time claimant or have not claimed in the previous three years. In the Autumn Budget on 28 October 2026, the government announced that this pre-notification requirement will be removed from April 2027, and that the Additional Information Form will be simplified from autumn 2027. Until the change takes effect, missing the notification still means losing the claim for that period. Source: HM Treasury, Corporate Tax Simplification for Business Investment, October 2026.
What records should you keep during the year?
- A short project log: the technical goal, what is uncertain, and key decisions with dates
- Test results, prototypes, failed approaches and why they failed
- Who worked on each project and roughly how much of their time
- Contracts and statements of work for contractors and agencies, showing where the work was done
- Cloud billing tags or accounts that separate development and testing from live hosting
- Grant agreements and how project costs were split
Records made at the time are far more persuasive to HMRC than reconstructions after year end, and they make next year's claim faster and cheaper.
Frequently asked questions
How long does an R&D claim take to prepare?
Most claims take a few weeks from the first technical interview to sign-off, depending on how quickly your team can share payroll, contractor and project records. Processing time at HMRC then varies, and claims selected for checks take longer.
What information will the specialist need?
Expect to share payroll and pension records for the period, contractor and agency invoices, software and cloud bills, a list of projects, and time with the technical lead for each project. Good records shorten the process and reduce enquiry risk.
Can we claim for previous years?
Yes, if the period is still within the two-year claim window and you met any claim notification requirement. A period ending on 31 March 2025, for example, can be claimed until 31 March 2027.
Who signs off the claim?
Your company does. The Additional Information Form names a senior officer of the company, and the return is the company's return. The specialist prepares it and should explain every figure before you submit.
Is the claim notification form being abolished?
The government announced in the Autumn Budget on 28 October 2026 that the pre-notification requirement will be removed from April 2027. Until then it still applies, and missing it means losing the claim for that period.
Get matched with a vetted R&D tax specialist
Tell us what you do and roughly what you spend on development. We check the basics, then introduce you to a specialist from our panel whose sector experience fits your work.
- Free to use, with no obligation to appoint anyone
- Introductions only to firms that meet our panel criteria
- Fee terms in writing from the firm before you sign anything
- We flag claim deadlines we can see from your answers
Our matching service is free for businesses. Specialist firms on our panel pay us a fee when we introduce a business to them. That fee does not change the price a firm quotes you, and you are never obliged to appoint anyone we introduce.