We’d like to remind you about a critical requirement for claiming Research and Development (R&D) tax relief in the UK.

If you’re planning to submit a claim for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2023, you must file an Advance Notification Form (ANF) within six months of the end of your accounting period—even if you’ve claimed R&D tax relief before.

Why This Matters

HMRC introduced this requirement to reduce fraudulent claims and improve compliance. Missing the deadline could result in the loss of thousands of pounds in potential tax relief.

The diagram below illustrates the ‘Claim Notification Window’.

The ‘Claim Notification Window’ runs from the first day of the accounting period to 6 months after it ends;

In determining whether to pre-notify HMRC that the company intends to claim R&D tax relief for this accounting period, you need to consider whether any R&D tax claims were made within the 3 years ended at the end of the Claim Notification Window.

You can use the flowchart below to work out whether an R&D tax claim can be “counted” (Yes/No) as a valid claim within that 3-year period so that no ANF is required for the accounting period in question. In this flowchart, the presumption is that some previous claim was forwarded to HMRC within that time frame. However, that may be not enough to remove the need for an ANF depending on whether the claim was by amendment and the start date of the accounting period for which it was made.

What You Need to Do

• Check any claim made for any period prior to your accounting period, the timing of it and whether it is valid for the current period in so far as there is a need for a current ANF based on the above flowchart.
• If you don’t have a valid prior claim per the above flowchart, prepare and submit your Advance Notification Form ASAP.
• Get support if needed—we’re here to help.

Need Help?

If you’re unsure whether this applies to you, or if you’d like guidance on completing the form or discuss any matter relating to R&D tax, our R&D tax experts can assist and are happy to help.

Don’t miss out on valuable relief—act now to stay compliant and maximise your claim.

Contact your local Barnes Roffe contact partner at one of our offices today.

Additional information you must submit before you claim for Research and Development tax relief can be found here.

Related Articles