The Additional Information form (AIF) was introduced in August 2023 by HMRC to reduce error and fraud in the R&D tax relief schemes and to streamline the claim process.
The AIF is now mandatory for every company submitting an R&D tax relief claim and aims to clarify and justify what is being claimed.
Each accounting period requires its own AIF, so for extended periods, two AIFs are required. The AIF for each period should only include information that applies to that accounting period.
HMRC use the form to assess the risk of a claim, including:
If the claim is determined to be a risk, then it is flagged for a caseworker for review.
In summary, the AIF form needs to be completed with:
– summary of the expenditure for each scheme
– totals for the expenditure in each cost category
– total for the qualifying direct costs and the qualifying indirect costs
– total costs per project
The full details for the agent that gave advice and prepared the technical assessment should be included in the AIF.
It must include the SIC code and if a company has multiple SIC codes, then the code should reflect the R&D activity in the claim.
The number of projects that need to be detailed depend on how many projects are to be included in the claim.
Any hybrid claims will require you to apply the above requirements to both schemes, SME and RDEC.
The AIF needs to clarify where the R&D activity takes place, whether it is UK or overseas.
It is also used to establish the business meets the R&D intensity eligibility criteria, and therefore the enhanced rate of tax relief.
If the condition is met, need to provide:
All SME claims need to include PAYE cap information and Employer’s PAYE references for all Externally Provided Workers (EPWs).
Once an AIF is started the form needs to be submitted within 28 days, or it expires. The AIF must be submitted before the CT600 – if not the claim will be rejected.
An AIF is submitted electronically through a Government Gateway portal by a registered agent.
When filing the CT600 the technical and financial claim reports should be included as supplementary attachments (this allows provision for further supporting details about the R&D projects).
The CT600 has a specific entry, box 657, that needs to be ticked confirming that the AIF is submitted.
