If you've been following the recent Budget 2026 announcements, you might have caught some welcome news for innovative businesses: HMRC announced that it plans to withdraw the rigid Claim Notification Form requirement from April 2027!
This is good news as currently, first-time claimants (or those who haven't claimed in recent years) are forced to notify HMRC within six months of their accounting period end. Miss that strict six-month window by even a day, and your entire claim is locked out—costing businesses valuable tax reliefs.
HMRC have recognised that many companies have lost out on relief that they were entitled to through an administrative burden and taken steps to ease this.
Claims submitted after 1 April 2027 do not need to have filed the advance notification form. This means that claims that had previously missed the notification deadline could now be able to make a valid R&D claim provided that they are still within the statutory time frame. This is usually 2 years from the end of the accounting period.
Our advice
If you are a new claimant and still within the claim notification window of 6 months after the end of your accounting period then still make your claim notification just in case there is a change to this announcement.
If you think you may be entitled to claim but have missed the claim notification deadline, prepare your claim ready to be submitted after 1 April 2027 and make sure you are aware of your statutory submission deadlines.
Reach out to our team today if you need help navigating these upcoming changes or maximising your R&D tax relief!