Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has issued recent guidance to tax accountants on (a) how and (b) whether activity can be classed as research and development for the purposes of claiming research and development tax reliefs.

HMRC keeps all guidance under review and is committed to making improvements to its guidance working with a wide cross-section of businesses, industry groups, agents and accountancy professional bodies.

In October 2023 HMRC published Guidelines for Compliance on R&D. This helps customers avoid common errors when claiming the R&D reliefs. They set out practical steps for customers to follow and examples provided help to identify projects where some or all of the activities may qualify for R&D tax reliefs. This publication was well-received by stakeholders.