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R&D claims: the triggers for an enquiry

Carrie Rutland and Dawn Register (BDO) set out the most common reasons why claims can lead to an HMRC enquiry and they advise on how to reduce those risks.

The basics

Claims for R&D tax relief come within the self-assessment tax framework. This means that a company needs to make a claim and HMRC can and does open formal enquiries into claims in the same way that it can enquire into any entry on a tax return.

HMRC is committed to ensuring that only those businesses that undertake genuine R&D activities (within the strict definitions of the UK tax legislation) obtain R&D tax relief and has always opened enquiries into company tax returns to question R&D claims. The volume of enquiries is increasing with the recruitment and redeployment of more than 100 inspectors to focus on compliance checks for R&D claims. 

HMRC sets out its approach...

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