When the Review button appears, next to the Back button, you and your client have finished entering all the information for the claim. Clicking the Review button displays a summary of the claim, from which you can double-check that the figures are accurate. A risk assessment of the claim is also displayed in the top right-hand corner.

The claim risk assessment benchmarks the claim against claims for similar companies. It gives a rating of how likely the claim is to a) attract attention from HMRC and b) stand up to their questions. It’s not a measure of the eligibility of a claim, but more a tool to help you understand the weaknesses of the claim and take steps to mitigate the highlighted risks.

The assessment looks at the following factors:

• Company sector (SIC code)

• Company turnover

• Company age

• Total eligible expenditure

• Presence of external shareholders

• Presence of external shareholdings

• Presence of additional technical detail

• Receipt of grants

These factors are assessed in combination to produce a high, medium or low risk score and identify the risk factors of each claim. For example, if a company is less than two years old and still pre-revenue, having an eligible expenditure larger than the turnover is understandable and therefore lower risk than the same turnover to claim ratio in an established company.

The risk assessment is not an indication of whether or not this claim is eligible for R&D tax relief. It is simply a measure of certain risk factors that may cause HMRC to look at the claim in more detail. 

The risk assessment is completely automated and appears on your claim review screen each time that you press the ‘review’ button. Any changes you make to the claim will update the claim review, so it always gives you your most up-to-date rating and areas of concern.

If you choose to download the editable version of the report and make changes, the risk assessment will not update and may be invalid.