R&D tax relief payment delays

As we’re written about before, there have been recent delays in processing and payment of R&D tax relief as HMRC have been working to reduce the level of fraud in the scheme. This week HMRC shared some insights with the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) about what they’ve been dealing with, and what the future looks like. The key points of this are:

• HMRC have seen an increase in fraudulent claims since April 2022, some of which is linked to organised crime
• In response to this increase, they paused payments and increased compliance checks
• So far, they have issued over 1000 letters to claimants they identified as high risk
• HMRC plan to continue with enhanced checking of claims for the foreseeable future
• This increase in checks means they cannot meet their commitment of a 28-day payment turnaround for tax credit claims 
• They currently expect to process 80% of claims within 40 days.

Overall the communication is positive in tone, and suggests that the HMRC are confident that they’ll be able to reduce the level of fraud. They promise more updates when appropriate, but it does seem like things are moving forward, and we’ll soon begin to see claims being processed in a more timely manner. 

To read the full text of HMRC’s update, you can visit the CIOT website.