Read the claim the way HMRC will
We review the submitted narrative, the additional information form, the cost schedule and the return, then map HMRC's questions to the parts of the claim they actually put at risk.
HMRC enquiry defence
An HMRC compliance check on your R&D claim
A letter from HMRC is a request for information, not a verdict. We review the claim, rebuild the technical case on evidence and handle the correspondence through to closure, including for claims we did not write.
How we run a defence
Rebuild the technical case on evidence
Baseline, uncertainty, advance and competent professional, supported by contemporaneous material: design records, test results, failed approaches and the reasons they failed.
Be straight about the weak points
Where part of the claim cannot be supported, we say so and help you correct it early. Behaviour is what drives penalties, and a voluntary correction is treated very differently from a defended error.
Handle the correspondence to closure
We draft the responses, manage deadlines and extensions, attend calls or meetings with HMRC where useful, and take the position through to settlement.
The evidence that settles an enquiry
HMRC is testing two things: whether the activities qualify, and whether the costs are right. Everything below speaks to one or the other.
- Technical documentation written while the work happened: design notes, architecture decisions, protocols, test plans.
- Results, including negative results. Failed approaches and the reasons they failed are often the clearest proof that the outcome was uncertain.
- A named competent professional with the qualifications and experience to judge what was readily deducible, writing in their own technical language.
- Project records, timesheets or an apportionment method that can be explained. A reasoned method beats a precise looking round number.
- A reconciliation between the cost schedule, the additional information form and the corporation tax return.
Questions companies ask when the letter arrives
What is an HMRC R&D compliance check?
A compliance check is HMRC opening an enquiry into an R&D tax claim already submitted. It is a request for information, not a finding that the claim is wrong. HMRC will set out what it wants to see and a date to reply by. Many entirely valid claims are now checked, because compliance activity across R&D relief has risen sharply.
What triggers an enquiry?
The most common trigger is a technical narrative that describes a product rather than an advance in science or technology. Others include a baseline written from the company's own starting point instead of the state of the field, cost figures that do not reconcile with the return, round percentage apportionment with no method behind it, a first claim in a sector HMRC is sampling, and a sharp rise in claim value year on year.
How long does an enquiry take?
A straightforward check with a well evidenced claim can close within a few months. Where the technical case has to be rebuilt from scratch, or where HMRC escalates, it can run considerably longer. Responding fully and on time to the first letter is the single biggest factor in how quickly it ends.
Can you defend a claim another adviser prepared?
Yes, and a large part of this work is exactly that. We review the original report, the cost schedule and HMRC's questions, tell you plainly which parts of the claim are defensible and which are not, and then handle the correspondence. We do not need to have written the claim to defend it.
What happens if part of the claim was wrong?
Correcting it voluntarily is almost always better than defending it. HMRC treats a prompt, unprompted correction very differently from a position maintained until it collapses, and penalties turn on behaviour rather than on the error itself. We will tell you where a claim cannot be supported rather than argue a line we do not believe.
Will you also review a claim before it is submitted?
Yes. A pre submission review of a claim prepared elsewhere is the cheapest form of enquiry defence there is. We read the narrative and the cost basis the way HMRC would, and tell you where it would be challenged.
What does enquiry defence cost?
A fixed fee agreed before we start, quoted against the scope of HMRC's questions. No percentage of the amount protected. If we prepared the original claim, enquiry correspondence is included in the original fee.
Send us the letter
Book a free 20-minute review. We will read HMRC's questions and the claim behind them, and tell you plainly how strong the position is.