The Times today covers yesterday’s announcement by HMRC of a consultation into the use of “advance clearances” to provide certainty to businesses claiming R&D Tax Credits.
Originally introduced in 2015, voluntary advance assurance was originally supposed to bring certainty to the system of claiming R&D Tax Credits, however it has never been popular with claimants.
In its consultation document, HMRC discusses the “role of agents” in supporting the R&D claiming process and the new consultation will look at how agents can help companies prepare for advance assurance.
Acknowledging its own limitations, HMRC hints that access to the service could be filtered through “competent and ethical” agents that are registered with HMRC or a professional body. .
That implies that much of the technical validation could be done by specialist R&D advisors.
I told The Times that “the plans are a step in the right direction…but that HMRC doesn’t currently have the specialist staff to make realistic technical judgments across so many sectors”.
The consultation will also look at reintroducing a minimum expenditure threshold for R&D claims, of say £25,000.
This is something that many in the R&D claims advisory field have been calling for for some time.
It would be a sensible move as smaller claims are known to contain higher levels of fraud and error. Removing the need to police these claims would free up HMRC’s limited resources to focus on larger, more complex cases with greater tax risk.
I’ve put the link to the latest Times article in the comments below.
Article written by Rufus Meakin
Rufus Meakin works with tech companies to help ensure their R&D Tax Credit claims are accurate and defendable.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of your R&D Tax Credit claim then please feel free to book an exploratory call here
