Is it possible to submit your own R&D claim?

The answer is absolutely-yes, and many companies do this successfully. However it is very easy to get the claim wrong or to make some fundamental mistakes.

 It is very common for a company to give their accountant a figure for the amount of Research and Development they have done in a year. The accountant often doesn’t check the assumptions and just blindly includes them in the company’s tax calculations, which can mean at best costs are missed out and at worst that the claim is totally wrong and can get challenged by HMRC in the future.

The criteria for a claim are very specifics and an R&D specialists will know these criteria inside out, a company submitting their own claim can often misinterpret the criteria. Ideally a full written report should be sent to HMRC demonstrating how the criteria is met under the R&D rules, if the report doesn’t show this then HMRC are much more likely to reject a claim.

Many claims submitted by a company themselves rather than through a specialist, massively understate the amount of the claim and often miss out salary costs and other related costs. The cost to the company can be many thousands of pounds.

In summary whilst it is possible to submit your own claim, the chances are you will miss out on significant financial benefit and have a higher chance of rejection from HMRC.