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Has HMRC opened an enquiry into your R&D Tax Credits claim? We can help.
We have a team of accounting, technical and scientific experts at our disposal, ready to defend your claim.
Our specialists will review your R&D claim against HMRC’s enquiry to give you an honest assessment of your chances of a successful defence.
If your claim is eligible, we’ll put together a robust defence that clearly explains how your project meets the guidelines for claiming R&D tax relief. We have a close working relationship with HMRC, and a solid track record of defending legitimate claims for R&D tax relief.
As more businesses claim R&D Tax Credits, HMRC has stepped up measures to reduce error and fraud. Tighter restrictions mean that HMRC will sometimes ask for more information to substantiate your R&D claim. This is known as an ‘enquiry’, which unfortunately can be a very lengthy process.
Our team’s R&D tax experience and relationship with HMRC means we can resolve even the most technically challenging disputes. We start by assessing your likelihood of success at tribunal. We then manage all the administrative tasks, stakeholder coordination, and pre- and post-tribunal actions to prepare your case for the tribunal process. Where possible, we’ll push for to resolve the dispute before the tribunal hearing to bring your enquiry to a close as early as possible.
R&D tax relief
Leadership, Quantified
Business supported in the UK
Years of Expertise
Countries
Of UK Claims submitted by Leyton
in R&D Tax Credits claimed in 2025.
To qualify for R&D tax relief, your project must:
For retrospective claims under the original R&D SME scheme, you can’t claim for a project if the R&D work has been subcontracted to you, or if you’ve received state aid. You also can’t claim for any subsidised work (e.g., work paid for by a grant). However, you may be able to claim for a portion of your work if not all of your expenditure was subsidised.
There are a variety of different costs that qualify for SME R&D relief. These include:
*There are restrictions on overseas expenditure. Find out more: Everything you need to know about the rules for overseas R&D expenditure
Some costs can’t be claimed. These include:
how we work
We’ll carry out a pre-contract assessment and due diligence to give you a clear picture of your likelihood of success.
We’ll thoroughly review and audit your historic R&D claim records to build a solid foundation for your defence.
We’ll interview your key personnel to gather the supporting evidence needed to defend your claim.
We’ll collate all the details needed to put together a thorough written response to the HMRC enquiry.
We’ll communicate directly with HMRC on your behalf, whether that’s via written submissions, calls or face-to-face meetings.
We’ll manage all final communications with HMRC to bring your enquiry to a close.
Our services
We offer support for all of the UK’s core innovation incentives and tax relief schemes, including:
Claim with Leyton
Book a free assessment with our expert team and take the first step toward confidently defending your R&D Tax Credits claim.
What you need to know
Everything you need to know before working with us.
An enquiry means that HMRC believes your R&D tax relief claim is incorrect, and they will therefore seek to review the accuracy of the claim.
When HMRC queries R&D claims, an officer from a specialist R&D unit will discuss the claim with your business’s technical and scientific experts as well as management. HMRC will request the information required to confirm that your business is undertaking eligible research and development projects and claiming for the right costs.
Enquiries typically delay payment of R&D Tax Credits, but HMRC keeps this under review and may make interim payments as the enquiry progresses.
Find out more: Read HMRC’s approach to handling claims
Yes, R&D Tax Credits enquiries can take place after claims have been processed. HMRC may still enquire into R&D claims within the statutory time limit.
Enquiries check that your company has received the correct amount of R&D tax relief and that you have paid the right amount of tax.
Yes. In November 2020, three men were jailed for a bogus £29.5m R&D tax relief claim. The perpetrators used a registered company, Clinical Information Systems Ltd, to claim the relief on a fake IT healthcare system on which they attempted to claim £137m worth of R&D expenditure. After submitting the claim, the men were asked for supporting evidence that the claim was in fact legitimate, and having failed to provide this, they were subsequently jailed.
At the time, HMRC published the following statement: “This wasn’t research and development, it was out and out fraud. HMRC will continue to create a level playing field for law-abiding businesses by rooting out the minority who seek to abuse these schemes, as this result clearly shows.”
More recently, in October 2022, eight people were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to submit more than 100 fraudulent R&D tax relief claims. HMRC released a statement that said: “The arrests include a tax agent suspected of criminally facilitating the fraudulent attack. More arrests are expected in the coming days. By acting quickly to pause payments and implement additional checks on claims, we’ve protected £46m of public money.”
○ Making errors on the claim form
○ Not including enough information in the claim
○ Claiming for work that does not qualify for relief
○ Claiming for costs that have not been incurred on qualifying activities
○ Claiming for staff time that is not spent on qualifying activities
○ Not accurately calculating the amount of R&D expenditure
○ Companies not recognising that they aren’t SMEs (and should therefore be claiming under the RDEC scheme)
Find out more: How to avoid some of the most common errors on R&D Tax Credits claims
Penalties can be extremely harsh, but they are relative to the level of negligence or fraud identified. If there has been a ‘careless’ mistake, the penalty can range from 15-30% of the potential lost revenue (the tax underpaid or relief overclaimed) where HMRC treats it as a prompted disclosure. If a ‘deliberate’ mistake has been made, a business will be looking at 35-70% of the potential lost revenue and this could rise to 50-100% if HMRC identifies a ‘deliberate and concealed’ mistake, where active steps have been taken to hide the inaccuracy from HMRC.