Documentation fails when it belongs to everyone. This checklist gives each project one page, one technical owner and one finance owner, and lists the records that answer the questions every reviewer asks: was the outcome uncertain at the start, was the work systematic, who did it, what did it cost, and where did the R&D end. It follows the routine in the guide to what reviewers look for.
Download the documentation checklist (DOCX)
What the template is for
| Part | When | Records |
|---|---|---|
| A | Project start | Dated project note stating the unknown; agreed project name and code; named owners |
| B | During the work | Tickets, commits or lab entries with a sentence of "why"; failed experiments kept; dated design decisions; time by project at least monthly; supplier invoices and materials tagged to the project |
| C | Each milestone | Project note updated; boundary reviewed |
| D | Year end | Narrative confirmed by the technical lead; costs and time reconciled; names and dates consistent across documents; exclusions recorded; evidence index frozen; any pre-claim step for your scheme diarised |
| E | Review readiness | Every reviewer question answerable with a named, dated document; the earliest document predates the work; the technical lead can explain the narrative; someone senior has seen the project list and total |
How to use it
- Print or copy one checklist per candidate project at the kickoff and enter the two owners.
- Tick items as they are done and record where the document is kept; the "where kept" column becomes the evidence index for the narrative.
- At each milestone the technical owner spends a few minutes on part C; at year end finance completes part D.
- Use part E as the internal review before filing. An item that cannot be ticked is a weakness a reviewer will find.
- Add your scheme's own forms and any registration, notification or approval step to part D; the country deadlines page lists them.
Related pages
- Contemporaneous documentation: what reviewers actually look for
- R&D Tax Fundamentals, module 5: Documentation basics
- Technical Teams Program, module 3: Recording as you go
- In-House Finance Team Program, module 9: Reviews and audits
- All templates
Educational material, not advice. The checklist contains no tax facts; each scheme's documentation page lists its own requirements.
Educational content only, not tax advice. See the disclaimer.