Research & Development Tax Relief

Arguably the most generous tax relief for entrepreneurs. Research and Development (R&D) provides crucial funding for many growing businesses. For every £100 spent on R&D SMEs can claim £230 in tax deductions.

For loss-making businesses this can equate to cash of up to 33% of the qualifying expenditure.

Over the last four years alone our clients have claimed over £27m in additional Corporate Tax (CT) relief and received £5m in cash from HMRC.

Of course, nothing is ever really simple, but our approach is to make R&D tax relief as accessible as possible.

We have been involved in numerous successful R&D claims for technology businesses. However, we have also assisted clients in other industries to make successful claims – it’s a common misconception that R&D tax relief is only available to those in the technology sector.

First and foremost, to be eligible for R&D tax relief your company needs to be seeking an advance in science or technology; we work with you and your team to assess whether the projects undertaken qualify as R&D. If we believe the company qualifies, we then work with you to identify the qualifying costs.

To enter a claim you will need to prepare and submit a report to HMRC setting out why you believe the work undertaken by the company qualifies and detail the costs that are being claimed. We can help with this, from preparing the full report on your behalf to simply reviewing the content prepared by your team. Either way, we believe that input from your technical team is vital to a successful R&D claim – they are the experts in the technology and the advances being sought and are therefore best placed to explain them. Our job is to shape their knowledge into a format suitable for submissions to HMRC and increase the chances of a successful claim.

In addition to assisting with R&D tax relief claims, we can provide advice on the correct accounting treatment for R&D costs and the interaction of the accounting and tax treatment when capitalising R&D expenditure.

Get in touch with is for a chat through your requirements.

Our guide to R&D Tax Relief

Written by Dominic Anthony, Managing Partner and Head of Business Services

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