From 8 August 2023, all businesses - or their R&D advisers - will have to fill in an Additional Information Form before they submit their company’s corporation tax return when submitting claims for R&D tax relief. There is a new HMRC online portal to submit claims.

The new process is designed to allow HMRC to quickly assess the validity of the claim.

Importantly, it will give the tax authority details of the R&D agent used by the business. This is to enable HMRC to assess the likely level of expertise involved in preparing the claim.

BDO warned that HMRC will use the data from this report to risk profile claims by size of claim and by business sector.