On 24 August 2016 HMRC held a webinar to provide an update on the advance assurance scheme for research and development (R&D) tax relief. The scheme which is aimed at small companies was launched in November 2015 and there have so far been more than 200 applications for advance assurance. Successful applicants will be assured that their claims to tax relief for R&D expenditure will not be the subject of an HMRC enquiry and that HMRC will accept their tax relief claims for the first three years.
A small company is eligible to make an application for advance assurance if it is a company with turnover below GBP 2 million and fewer than fifty employees and has not claimed R&D relief in the past. Corporate members of partnerships may claim advance assurance, but if the company is part of a group and another company within that group has made a claim for R&D an application for advance assurance cannot be accepted.
HMRC confirmed that the advance assurance scheme is given for a company and not on a project by project basis. Although the scheme currently operates only for companies that have not claimed R&D tax relief in the past this rule could be changed in the future.
