HMRC teams have been working hard to address the delays in processing and repaying R&D claims and taxpayers should now start to see this paying off. A backlog of around 10,000 claims has now been substantially cleared and by 30 September 2019, HMRC plans to be back within its 28 day processing promise. Once the processing backlog has been cleared, the focus will move to repayment security checks so that cash repayments can also be brought within a similar timeframe.

If you have been waiting for an R&D claim repayment, you may have been rather disappointed by the recent delays.  HMRC’s processing times for claims have been well in excess of the target of 30 days. Some good news for you then that HMRC have apologised and taken steps to speed things up.  SME claims received up to 1st May are currently being processed (as of 5th August).  Unfortunately RDEC claims are slower, with those received up to 21 December

In an effort to help taxpayers provide good quality information, HMRC has issued a new digital form (link below) for completion in support of R&D Expenditure Credit claims.  This follows the earlier SME version and both forms, at this stage, are optional not mandatory. Whilst in my view the form falls short due to its limited accessibility, companies can helpfully use this to ensure their claims align in terms of content. Looking at the form, I would make 2 recommendations:

#HMRC are proposing changes to R&D tax relief for #SME businesses to prevent abuse. If you are an SME with losses with relatively few staff and subcontract parts of your R&D to third parties, your cash back claims could be impacted. Get in touch to find out more. To ensure this works for business, we’re asking for 2 key things: a £100k threshold to the cap so that the c.88% of claims below this amount are not impacted – after

Treasury / HMRC have published the consultation document ‘Preventing abuse of the R&D tax relief schemes for SMEs’. Worth having your say if you are an SME to ensure changes are well thought through and implemented. http://Preventing abuse of the R&D tax relief for SMEs: consultation assets.publishing.service.gov.uk Contact me if you would like to discuss our ideashttp://brightrd.com/contact-me