Amidst the current uncertainties, many companies are currently looking at ways to boost cashflow.
One way to do this which is frequently overlooked is claiming R&D tax relief. This can be a quick, efficient way to get cash back into your company, by reducing corporation tax liabilities, generating refunds of tax from previous years, or even creating a payable tax credit from HMRC.
R&D tax relief was first introduced almost 20 years ago, and is still widely under-claimed, even though the relief can be worth almost £25k in tax saved for every £100k of qualifying spend. As claims can be made retrospectively for the previous two years, there are considerable amounts of cash to be unlocked by innovative companies. If you have never previously considered your company making an R&D claim, or if you have claimed in the past but may not have maximised your claim, now is an excellent time to (re)consider making a claim.
R&D relief is available for companies seeking to achieve an advance in science and technology through the resolution of scientific and technological uncertainties. One of the main reasons that the relief isn’t claimed by all those who are entitled is a lack of understanding of what this means in practice, with the level of innovation required to claim being overestimated. It’s crucial to engage with an R&D specialist who fully understands the legislation and guidelines as to what activities do and do not qualify for relief to ensure your company accurately assesses its ability to claim, and that any claim is maximised. For example, product development, process improvement and advances in software development can all lead to eligible claims. The relief is available to companies in all sectors – manufacturing, food, rail, health, packaging and transport are all areas where we have recently helped companies claim relief, along with the science-specific sectors where you would expect to see R&D.
Another reason why companies fail to claim is that they overestimate the time required within the company to prepare and submit the claim. We understand that there are many demands on your time when you are running a company, and never more so than now as everyone adapts to the new normal. Our approach has always been to minimis the time spent in the company on preparing the claim. We focus on quickly and concisely assessing a company’s eligibility to claim R&D relief, usually via a phone call, and then usually carry out a 1-2 hour meeting with the company to identify the qualifying projects and costs. We have adapted our processes to enable us to collect the necessary information through interviewing the relevant staff virtually via Zoom and Teams, which avoids the time-consuming task of someone from the company writing up a technical report. Once we have this information we produce a technical report for you to approve, and we arrange for the submission to HMRC, liaising as required with your existing tax advisers.
From March this year, we have helped clients to save >£1.3m in tax– are you sure your company has claimed it’s share of the available relief?
Why not speak to our Radius team to find out how easy it is to make your company’s innovation pay.
Why Radius?
- Includes an ex-HMRC Inspector who specialised in reviewing and processing R&D tax relief claims – have you claim reviewed prior to submission
- Is the official R&D tax relief partner to the Sheffield, Barnsley and Rotherham and East Midlands Chambers of Commerce
- Ensures claims are prepared by true R&D tax relief specialists, not general tax advisers or accountants
- Has robust quality control procedures to ensure that claims are fully compliant
- Has never had a claim rejected by HMRC.
R&D tax relief presents an unmissable opportunity for local businesses. The government wants to see more claims being made and Shorts' Radius team are perfectly placed to help. For more details on claiming Research and Development tax relief, please do not hesitate to contact Scott Burkinshaw to arrange your free consultation.
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