UK R&D Tax Break Compliance Has Troubling Gaps, Agency Says

Officials of His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs told the government on Wednesday of a longstanding concern about compliance checks for research and development tax relief.

Jonathan Athow, director general of customer strategy and tax design at HMRC, said there was no third-party data to check if compliance is met when the tax administration gives out R&D credits.

Athow and two other HMRC directors were called Wednesday to a formal hearing of Parliament’s Treasury Committee to address complexities in the UK’s tax system, including gaps in R&D tax relief and 1,180 other tax benefits.

The HMRC representatives told the committee ...