Sage LakhaniHead of Consulting
Having started her career with PwC London, Sage has previously held positions at two boutique tax consultancies working with entrepreneurs and growing businesses. She is also a qualified Chartered Tax Adviser.
You cannot recycle, reproduce, or reuse the same R&D claim year-on-year: HMRC expect you to evaluate your R&D projects and expenditure each time you make a claim.
Though it is quite possible that eligible R&D projects (and resolving the inherent scientific or technological uncertainties) won’t be contained neatly within each financial year. Eligible projects may differently stretch across several calendar and/or financial years – you would still be expected to produce a new claim for each financial year (even if the underlying methodology is being retained).
What if qualifying projects span across R&D claims?
Reviewing your R&D efforts each time you make a claim ensures that your claim is being considered carefully, and also helps satisfy HMRC that you are being suitably diligent about sure your claim and its overall accuracy. It is fine, and in fact quite common, for the same projects to span more than a single claim-period, but reusing the same claim or failing to properly consider your projects and expenditure each year is likely to result in an enquiry.
