R&D claim pre-notification ends for claims from 1 April 2027

Companies making Research and Development tax relief claims on or after 1 April 2027 will no longer need to pre-notify HMRC of the intention to claim.GOV The removal covers claims made in returnsGOV and claims made by amendmentGOV: for claims made on or after that date, including claims made by amendment, no claim notification form is requiredGOV. The cut-off applies across the reformed reliefsGOV for both original claims and amendmentsGOV.

Until the cut-off, the notification duty continues to bite first-time and lapsed claimants.GOV A company planning relief for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2023 must notify if it is claiming for the first time or its last claim was made more than 3 years before the last date of the claim notification period, subject to exceptions where HMRC removed a claim on enquiry or where a pre-April 2023 period was claimed by amendment received on or after 1 April 2023GOV. The notification period runs from the first day of the period of accountGOV to six months after its endGOV, and a missed notification makes the claim invalidGOV. A claim notification must be made through the online service with company, officer, agent, period and project-summary details specified in the 2023 Regulations.

What does not change is the rest of the claims process. Companies must still submit the additional information form supporting the claimGOV and bring new RDEC amounts into account as trading income or ERIS additional deductions into the adjusted trading loss calculation, with computations and the CT600 where the claim is made by amendment. Switching schemes on amendment still needs a fresh additional information form for the other scheme. The updated practice notes for small-company and large-business claimants reflect the same boundary: accounting periods starting on or after 1 April 2023 may require notification only where the claim itself is submitted before 1 April 2027GOVGOV.

The statutory framing sits in Corporation Tax Act 2009 provisions for the merged RDEC and ERIS schemes with the notification period and form requirements in section 1142A and the 2023 Regulations, alongside the Finance Act 1998 Schedule 18 machinery for claims made or amended after enquiry adjustments. HMRC's administrative easement for the September–November 2024 guidance error on the three-year history test remains on the books for affected periods but is overtaken for later claims by the outright removal.

R&D claimants and agents with pipelines spanning the cut-off should diary 1 April 2027 as the claim-made date that matters, not the accounting-period start: a claim for an earlier period that is made on or after that date by amendment falls in the no-notification regimeGOV, while anything submitted before it must still satisfy the notification testGOV.

Legal basis: Corporate Intangibles R&D Manual CIRD 80525, 81800, 80370, 181000 and 183000 with Tell HMRC you want to claim R&D tax relief guidance (CTA 2009 ss.1042C, 1045A, 1142A; SI 2023/813; FA 1998 Sch 18).