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The basics
What are R&D tax credits?
R&D tax credits, also called R&D tax relief, are a corporation tax incentive for UK companies that take on technical risk. If your business has tried to solve a problem where the outcome was genuinely uncertain, and a competent professional in your field could not have known in advance whether it would work, that work may qualify.
It is not limited to laboratories and software houses. Construction, engineering, architecture, manufacturing and IT services all carry qualifying work, usually without anyone in the business calling it research and development.
Eligibility
Which companies can claim?
To claim R&D tax relief you need to be a UK limited company within the charge to corporation tax, carrying out a project that sought an advance in science or technology, and resolving scientific or technological uncertainty along the way.
What usually decides a claim is not whether the work was difficult, but whether the uncertainty can be evidenced. That is the part most claims get wrong.
Deadlines
The deadline most first time claimers miss
If this would be your company's first R&D claim, or your last claim was more than three years ago, you must notify HMRC in advance. The claim notification has to be filed within six months of the end of your period of account. Miss it and the claim is invalid, however strong the underlying work was.
The checker tells you your notification deadline alongside your result, so you know where you stand before it becomes a problem.
The checker
What you get from the checker
Ten questions, a few minutes. At the end you get a technical indicator rating, a plain read back of what your answers suggest actually happened, and both your claim and Pre-Notification deadlines.
It is an indication, not a formal assessment. Every claim PSS files is reviewed by a chartered accountant and a technical specialist before it goes near HMRC.
FAQ
Common questions
Can we claim if the project failed?
Yes. Relief is for the attempt to resolve the uncertainty, not for succeeding. A project that was abandoned can still qualify.
Can we claim if the work was subcontracted?
Often, yes, though the rules changed under the merged scheme and who holds the claim depends on who took the technical risk. Worth checking rather than assuming.
We already claim through our accountant. Is it worth a second look?
Most general practice accountants prepare the figures but not the technical narrative, which is the part HMRC challenges. PSS can work alongside your existing accountant rather than replacing them.
What does it cost?
The core R&D service runs on a success fee agreed in writing before work begins, and HMRC enquiry support is included in that fee rather than billed separately. If a project does not qualify, PSS say so and charge nothing.