Spring Statement 2025: Consultation on R&D Tax Advance Clearances

With welfare cuts being the biggest news story from the Chancellor’s 2025 Spring Statement, some of the less pressing announcements may have slipped through the cracks of public discussion.

One of these affects the much-reformed R&D tax credits scheme. Following the announcement of the Merged Scheme and the various new rules that came with it in late 2023, the R&D tax scheme has managed to scrape by without many additional changes in the last few months.

However, the 2025 Spring Statement did include some news relevant to this government incentive—a consultation to explore a system of advanced clearances for some businesses seeking to claim R&D tax credits.

This consultation aims to reduce error and fraud and improve claimants’ confidence in the claim-making process. It will assess impacts and preferences within industry, taking responses from claimants and agents alike.

The new advanced clearance would expand upon the existing advanced assurance system, which is entirely voluntary for certain companies (only those making a claim for their first three accounting periods). It allows companies to declare their R&D projects to HMRC and confirm the eligibility of their claim. With an increase in compliance checks from HMRC resulting in many companies having their claims rejected and sometimes having to pay back their credit, this assurance would be welcome by many.

Options include pre-R&D activity, pre-claim and pre-payment checks, both mandatory and voluntary. Resources wouldn’t allow for every single claimant to submit for advanced assurance; any mandatory checks would be specific to particular claim sizes, sectors, first-time claimants or companies with a history of claims being rejected.

A potential pre-approval process would bring the UK into line with countries such as Australia, China, India, Japan, Netherlands, Norway and South Korea. For example, in Australia, companies must register each year within 10 months of the end of the period. Companies will apply for work they have completed in that year, or activities coming in the next two years.

To reduce the impact on HMRC’s current compliance checking resources and weed out many of the ineligible claims, HMRC floated a minimum expenditure threshold, such as the £25,000 minimum that accompanied the scheme when it was first launched in 2000.

If you want to get involved in this consultation, you can check out HMRC’s page to give your opinion on how to best implement an advanced clearance system to reduce error and fraud and give claimants more certainty that their claim is eligible.

In the meantime, if you want more clarity on the eligibility of your project, get in touch with the experts at Myriad. With over 20 years of experience making claims, we know the scheme inside and out and can advise on whether your claim has any merit. Get in touch with the team for a free consultation on your projects.