R&D Tax Credits under the Merged Scheme apply to accounting periods starting on or after 1 April 2024. The scheme replaces both the old SME scheme and RDEC, and the standard credit rate is 20% above-the-line. Loss-making companies that qualify for the Enhanced R&D Intensive Support (ERIS) scheme receive 27%. Any adviser you use works within these rules. The practical question is whether they know them well enough to apply them correctly to your specific situation.
The real difference between specialists and generalists
Generalist accountants prepare annual accounts, VAT returns, payroll, and corporate tax returns. R&D Tax Credits are one of hundreds of tasks they handle across a client base. A mid-sized practice with 200 business clients may prepare 10 to 20 R&D claims per year. A specialist R&D advisory firm may prepare 500 or more.
That frequency gap has two practical consequences.
Claim scope: HMRC's qualifying expenditure rules cover staff costs (including employer's NIC and pension contributions at the qualifying fraction), subcontractor and externally provided worker costs, consumables, software licences used directly in R&D, and cloud computing costs introduced from April 2023. An accountant who prepares 15 R&D claims a year typically identifies staff costs and sometimes contractor costs. Consumables, software licences, and cloud costs are frequently omitted. For a software SME spending £150,000 per year on AWS infrastructure partly attributable to R&D, that omission is a material under-claim.
Technical Narrative quality: HMRC requires a project-level description of the R&D work that identifies the scientific or technological advance sought, the uncertainties involved, and why those uncertainties were not resolvable using publicly available knowledge. A generic one-paragraph description that could apply to any software company is inadequate. A specialist who interviews your technical team and documents specific uncertainties produces a narrative that is orders of magnitude harder for HMRC to challenge.
| Criterion | Generalist accountant | R&D specialist |
|---|---|---|
| Claims prepared per year | Typically 5 to 30 across the practice | Typically 100 to 1,000+ depending on firm size |
| Expenditure categories covered | Usually staff costs; sometimes contractors | Full scope: staff, EPWs, consumables, software, cloud, payments to clinical trial volunteers |
| Technical Narrative approach | Often generic; drafted by finance rather than technical team | Project-by-project; interviews technical leads; CIRD-aligned language |
| Additional Information Form | Completed but often thin on technical detail | Structured per HMRC's published guidance; specific to each project |
| HMRC enquiry defence | May not have defended a claim before; limited precedent | Regular HMRC correspondence; knows typical enquiry questions |
| Fee model | Often hourly or fixed fee via annual accounts engagement | Usually no win, no fee as a percentage of the successful claim |
| Fit for | Very small, simple claims; companies already using the accountant for all tax | Any company wanting a well-structured claim; especially software, manufacturing, engineering, life sciences |
What accountants say about R&D claims
The AccountingWEB forums have hosted threads since at least 2019 where practitioners discuss R&D claim preparation. A recurring theme: accountants who have started receiving HMRC enquiry letters on claims they prepared acknowledge they did not have the depth of knowledge to defend the technical content. One representative sentiment, paraphrased from publicly visible threads: "I prepared the claim by asking the client to write a paragraph about what they were doing. Now HMRC is asking detailed questions about whether each project met the advancement test and I am not equipped to answer them."
This is not a criticism of accountants. It reflects the division of expertise. An accountant's job is to account for the money accurately. An R&D specialist's job is to understand what qualifies under the CIRD manual and build a claim that can be defended. The two skills overlap at the financial analysis layer but diverge sharply at the technical and regulatory interpretation layer.
The Additional Information Form as a quality test
Since 8 August 2023, every R&D claim requires a mandatory pre-submission Additional Information Form (AIF). The AIF must be submitted to HMRC before or alongside the CT600. It requires:
- Contact details of the main senior internal R&D contact and any agent involved.
- For each R&D project, a description of the advance sought, the scientific or technological uncertainties, and how work was undertaken to resolve them.
- A breakdown of qualifying expenditure by category (staff, EPWs, subcontractors, consumables, software, cloud, clinical trials).
A well-drafted AIF is a positive signal to HMRC. A thin AIF is a flag. Ask any adviser to show you the structure of an AIF they have prepared before committing to them. If they cannot describe the project-level content format without referring to a template, they may not be producing defensible AIFs.
When your accountant is the right answer
There are genuine situations where using your existing accountant for an R&D claim is proportionate.
If your qualifying expenditure is below approximately £50,000, the absolute claim value under the 20% Merged Scheme credit rate is £10,000. A specialist's no-win-no-fee charge on that claim will likely be £1,500 to £2,500. If your accountant is already familiar with your business, can draft a defensible AIF, and charges a modest incremental fee, the economics may favour the accountant relationship. The break-even point depends on whether the accountant covers the full expenditure categories.
If your company's R&D is genuinely simple, say a single well-defined software project with clear staff allocation and no subcontractor complexity, the AIF will be short and straightforward regardless of who prepares it.
For most SMEs with R&D spend above £100,000, a specialist is a proportionate choice. The incremental claim value from full expenditure coverage, plus the lower risk of enquiry from a better-structured AIF, typically more than offsets the specialist fee relative to an accountant fee.
Using both: the practical model
The most common arrangement for UK SMEs that have moved to a specialist is to keep their existing accountant for annual accounts and use the specialist only for the R&D claim. The two roles do not conflict. The specialist delivers the AIF, the qualifying-expenditure calculation, and the CT600 R&D entry. The accountant incorporates the entry into the full CT600 and signs off the accounts.
Many accountants actively encourage this split because it protects them from liability on a claim they are not equipped to defend. If your accountant says they would prefer you use a specialist, that is usually a credible signal that they know the limits of their own expertise. For accountants who want to refer clients, see our dedicated page for accountants.
HMRC compliance context in 2026
HMRC's R&D compliance resource has grown since 2022. The CIRD81000 and surrounding guidance sets out what HMRC considers qualifying R&D. Enquiry rates on software and construction claims in particular have increased.
The practical implication: claims prepared with a thin AIF and a conservative estimate of qualifying expenditure are more likely to receive a compliance letter. The response to that letter requires someone who knows the technical content of each project. If your accountant prepared the claim, they may be unable to respond to technical questions about the specific scientific or technological uncertainties documented in your AIF. A specialist who interviewed your technical team and prepared the AIF has the substance to respond.
For more on what happens when HMRC opens an enquiry, see the glossary entry for HMRC enquiry defence and read our comparison of Uplift Tax vs ForrestBrown, which covers enquiry posture in more detail.
How to decide
Use your accountant if:
- Your qualifying expenditure is below £50,000 and the absolute claim value is modest.
- Your accountant has prepared R&D claims regularly for similar clients and can describe the AIF structure in detail.
- Your R&D involves a single well-defined project with straightforward staff allocation and no subcontractor or cloud cost complexity.
Use an R&D specialist if:
- Your qualifying expenditure is above £100,000 in any year.
- Your R&D involves multiple projects, subcontractors, cloud infrastructure, or externally provided workers.
- You have received a prior HMRC enquiry on any claim, or your sector (software, construction, financial services) is one HMRC has identified as a compliance focus.
- Your accountant has told you they are not confident defending the technical content of your claim.
- You want the full range of qualifying expenditure categories identified rather than a conservative subset.
Uplift Tax can introduce you to a sector-matched HMRC-registered specialist at no cost. The free assessment covers R&D Tax Credits and also checks your Capital Allowances and Land Remediation Relief position. Use the eligibility checker as a starting point, or go directly to request an assessment.