How Long Does it Take to Claim R&D Tax Credit?
R&D Tax Credits 3 mins read 02nd Aug 2019
HMRC R&D claim processing time
HMRC advise that the processing of claims can take between 4 to 6 weeks and is usually true for companies claiming tax credits.
There are various means for any claim to be processed by HMRC depending on its type and the final process can be dealt with by different departments.
For example, repayments of corporation tax are eventually processed by a corporation tax team and sometimes take longer. In addition, popular year ends (e.g. March and December) and national holidays can mean a delay in receiving your claim benefit.
Preparing the R&D tax relief claim yourself
This time can be hugely variable, depending on the familiarity of the people building the claim and their understanding of the legislation. If you are looking at doing it yourself then you’d need a couple of months to fully read through and digest the legislation, then a fair chunk of time to build the technical narrative that the claim rests on. The accounting side takes less time, but of course is critical to get right.
How long would we take to do it for you?
Companies can claim for the previous two years, meaning if your year end is December you have until 31st December 2017 to claim for the year ending 31st December 2015. This timing drives how urgent your claim submission is.
After our technical meeting, we write the claim and the majority of those are submitted on your behalf within 4 weeks, with very little further input from you. If timing is tight, however, we can deliver quickly for you – we haven’t missed a deadline yet.
Interested in talking to one of our R&D tax credits advisors to find out what your claim could be worth? Please get in touch for a free consultation.
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