Annual R&D claim calendar
Most R&D claims are assembled in the weeks before a deadline from whatever records happen to exist. This guide sets out a month-by-month routine that makes the claim a by-product of the year's records, from the first project note to filing and what to keep afterwards.
Most R&D claims are assembled in the weeks before a deadline from whatever records exist: narratives written from memory, time allocations in round numbers, a search for documents that should have been filed a year earlier. The alternative is a routine that runs through the year, so that the claim is a by-product of the records.
What this guide covers
- Setting up at the start of the year: project names, time capture, ownership.
- The monthly routine and the quarterly checkpoints.
- Pre-claim registration, notification or approval, where a scheme has one.
- From year end to filing: cost extraction, narrative, review, filing.
- After filing: what to keep and how to roll forward.
The start of the year
The first month decides whether the year produces evidence or noise. Settle five things:
- Who owns the claim. One person in finance owns the process and the deadlines; one technical lead per candidate project owns the technical record.
- Project names. One naming convention that finance, engineering and contractor invoices all use. Three names for one project tell a reviewer the records were assembled afterwards.
- Time capture by project. Timesheets, sprint allocations or work orders, completed within the month, recording who worked on which named project.
- Opening project notes. For each candidate project, the technical lead writes half a page: what is being attempted, what is not known at the start and why existing knowledge does not answer it, who will work on it. Dated.
- The dates. Enter every pre-claim step and deadline for each country you claim in, including any step that falls before year end.
Through the year: monthly and quarterly
Every month
Close the time records. File the month's experimental records (test logs, failed batches, design revisions, abandoned branches) under the project name. Tag contractor and consumable invoices with the project. Update the project note when the direction changes: a new hypothesis, a failed approach, a decision to stop. None of this is extra work if the technical team's existing records are dated, attributed and filed in one place.
Every quarter
Hold a short checkpoint with the claim owner and the technical leads. Add new candidate projects and write their opening notes. Retire projects whose uncertainty has been resolved or abandoned, and record the date: it ends the claimable work. Check that time records are complete. Check whether any approval due before year end is coming up: some schemes want planned activities, or planned overseas work, approved before the income year ends. This is also where routine work is carved out, while people still remember which was which.
From year end to filing
Months one and two after year end
Close the project list: every candidate is either in, with its opening note, boundary dates and technical lead, or out, with a reason. Do any pre-claim notification or registration step that falls after year end now; several of these windows close well before the claim is due, and a missed step bars the claim. Extract costs: payroll for the people named in the time records, the apportionment from those records, contractor and consumable invoices by project. Reconcile every figure to the ledger before anyone writes a narrative around it.
Months two to four
The technical lead drafts each narrative from the project notes and the experimental records: what was not known, what was done to find out, and what was the result. Finance edits for structure and checks names, dates and project titles against the cost schedule. The technical narrative guide gives a structure that maps onto every scheme's form.
Review and filing
Someone who did not prepare the claim reads it against the evidence: do the narratives describe problems rather than products, do the costs reconcile, is each project's boundary drawn, does the exclusions list exist? A senior officer signs off having seen the project list, the boundaries and the total. Check every field the form asks for; in some schemes an incomplete form at the deadline is no claim at all. Then file with the return, or by the scheme's own deadline where the claim can be made later, and keep a copy exactly as filed, with an index of the evidence each narrative draws on.
After filing
The file is closed, not discarded. Note how long the tax authority can review the claim and keep the records at least as long as the scheme requires. If it asks questions, answer the questions asked, in order, with references to the indexed documents. Roll forward: this year's closing notes become next year's opening notes for projects that continue. Record what went wrong (late time records, a project nobody owned, a name mismatch) and fix it in month one.
The calendar
| When | Routine | Kept on file |
|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | Name the claim owner and technical leads; agree project names; set up time capture; write opening notes; enter every scheme date | Ownership note, naming convention, dated opening notes |
| Months 1 to 3 | Monthly: close time records, file experimental records and invoices by project | Time records, test logs, invoices |
| Month 3 | Checkpoint: new candidates, retired projects, carve-out, approval dates | Checkpoint minute, new opening notes |
| Months 4 to 6 | Monthly routine; update notes at each change of direction | Revised notes with dates |
| Month 6 | Checkpoint; apply for any approval the scheme requires before year end | Checkpoint minute, approval application |
| Months 7 to 12 | Monthly routine; month 9 checkpoint confirms end dates for resolved projects; final checkpoint at year end | Checkpoint minutes, boundary dates, complete time records |
| Year end, months 1 to 2 | Close the project list; pre-claim notification or registration where the window falls after year end; extract and reconcile costs | Project list with reasons, cost schedule, reconciliation |
| Year end, months 2 to 4 | Technical leads draft narratives; finance cross-checks names, dates and costs | Narratives, evidence index |
| Before filing | Independent review, senior sign-off, form completeness check | Review notes, sign-off |
| Filing | File with the return or by the scheme's deadline | Copy as filed |
| After filing | Hold records for the review period; answer questions from the index; roll notes forward | Closed file, lessons note |
Illustrative example
Illustrative example. Brightwater Foods, a hypothetical company with a 31 December year end, runs the routine for the first time. Two candidate projects get opening notes in January: a reformulation to remove a preservative while holding shelf life, and a new filling line. At the June checkpoint the filling line is retired, because the supplier's published data answered every question the engineers had and no trial was needed; the note recording that decision stays on file. The reformulation runs from March to October, and monthly time capture records 80,000 of food technologist time against it, with 20,000 of scrapped trial batches tagged on the invoices. In January the claim owner completes the pre-claim step where the country requires one. Costs are reconciled in February, the technologist drafts the narrative in March, the finance director signs in April, and the claim is filed with the return. The claim is built on 100,000 and the benefit is calculated at that country's rate. Without the routine, the filling line would probably have been claimed.
Country differences
Each scheme's pre-claim step and claim deadline, in its own words. The deadlines pages give the detail and the exceptions.
| Country | Pre-claim step | Claim deadline |
|---|---|---|
| United States | No pre-registration. The qualified small business payroll tax election is made on a timely filed original return, including extensions. | Form 6765, filed with the income tax return. Calendar-year C corporation returns are due on the 15th day of the fourth month after year end, with a six-month extension available. A claim for credit or refund must be filed within three years from the time the return was filed or two years from the time the tax was paid. |
| United Kingdom | Claim notification if you are claiming for the first time or your last claim was more than 3 years ago, within 6 months of the end of the period of account. An additional information form with every claim. | An R&D claim must be made, amended or withdrawn within 2 years of the end of the accounting period it relates to. The claim is made in the Company Tax Return. |
| Ireland | Companies claiming for the first time, or that have not claimed in the previous 3 years, must notify Revenue in advance, at least 90 days before the claim, using a prescribed form. | Within 12 months of the end of the accounting period in which the expenditure was incurred. The claim is made on the corporation tax return. |
| Canada | No registration. Optional pre-claim approval has been available since 1 April 2026, to have planned work assessed before you incur most of the cost. | 12 months after the filing due date of the income tax return. A corporation's return is due six months after the end of its tax year, so the SR&ED reporting deadline falls 18 months after year end. Form T661 must contain all prescribed information by the reporting deadline. |
| Australia | Register R&D activities with the department within 10 months of the end of the income year. An application for an Advance Finding or Overseas Finding must be made before the end of the income year in which the activities are conducted. | Claim the offset in the company tax return by completing the R&D tax incentive schedule. Company tax returns are due by 31 October for self-lodgers or by the tax agent lodgement program dates, up to 15 May of the following year. |
| New Zealand | General approval, or criteria and methodologies approval, for the income year. Apply for general approval by the last day of the 3rd month after the end of the income year. Criteria and methodologies approval applications are due on the last day of the 6th month before the end of the first income year they relate to. | Supplementary return within 30 days after the income tax return due date, or the extension of time due date. File the income tax return for the year first. |
| Singapore | No registration. Apply for any cash payout using the Apply for EIS Cash Payout service after filing the return and before the filing due date. | Claim the enhanced deduction in the corporate income tax return by its filing due date, 30 November of the Year of Assessment. |
Related pages
- Contemporaneous documentation: what reviewers actually look for
- Writing a technical narrative that survives review
- How to run a project identification workshop with your technical team
- In-House Finance Team Program, Module 8: Filing and deadlines
- Running a claim hub
Educational material, not advice. Deadlines depend on the scheme and the accounting period.
Sources
- Instructions for Form 6765, Credit for Increasing Research ActivitiesInternal Revenue Service
- Tell HMRC you want to claim R&D tax reliefGOV.UK
- Research and Development (R&D) Corporation Tax creditRevenue Commissioners
- SR&ED Filing Requirements PolicyCanada Revenue Agency
- How to register for the R&D Tax Incentivebusiness.gov.au
- Research and development tax incentive due datesInland Revenue
- Filing corporate income tax returns (Form C-S, Form C-S (Lite), Form C)Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore
Educational content only, not tax advice. Rules change and eligibility depends on your circumstances, so check the official guidance or speak to a qualified advisor before you claim. See the disclaimer.