HMRC’s compliance crackdown on R&D tax relief has reshaped the scheme from the ground up, and the businesses that catch us off guard in enquiries today are usually those still working from a 2021 playbook.

A few years ago, an R&D tax credit claim landing on HMRC's desk was unlikely to attract a second look. That's no longer the world we operate in. If you've submitted a claim recently, or you're about to, you need to understand that the likelihood of receiving a compliance check letter is meaningfully higher than it was even two years ago — and the reasons behind that shift tell you a lot about what a strong claim needs to look like today.