If so, STOP & THINK before you respond or agree to a meeting! The HMRC inspectors know their stuff, and will send you considered, polite questions seeking “clarification”. Be under no illusion that this is a “good cop, bad cop” approach, and although your answers may help the claim get … Read More
HMRC has just published its annual report covering the usage of the R&D tax credit schemes, which covers claims made up to March 2018, and the scheme is continuing to grow with another increase of over 20% in claims on the previous year. We’re still digesting the detail in the … Read More
The UK is becoming well known internationally for having a generous and effective R&D tax incentives system. This includes the SME R&D Tax Credit, RDEC and the Patent Box. As a specialist in this area I’m asked increasingly by tech and biotech firms for practical advice to convert the headline … Read More
The government has been conducting a consultation on the proposed changes from the last budget to the SME R&D tax credit scheme. The proposal is to introduce a cap on the amount companies can claim as payable credits based on their payroll tax contributions. We analysed the proposed cap a … Read More
Introduction In the autumn 2018 budget, the UK government decided that payments made under the SME R&D tax credit scheme will be limited by a cap based on the amount of employment taxes paid by the claiming company. This is probably the first significant limitation that has been placed on … Read More
If you are involved in buying or selling companies (or are planning to), then this article is aimed at you. You may not think R&D tax credits are a factor in your transaction, but read on, as you might be surprised!… Read More
This article covers a poorly understood area where we have frequently seen companies miss out on the opportunity to benefit from R&D tax credits. If you are an SME working in a scientific or technical field, but have been told that you don’t qualify for R&D tax credits, you may … Read More
This is a common question we are asked after having made a client’s first claim, particularly where the claim may have involved claiming for work done by other companies. There is not a simple answer to this, but in this article we will show you some of the factors that … Read More
This article will try to explain the issues around the interaction of grants and R&D tax incentives, and provide some guidance for those considering applying for grants, or for those who have already been awarded a grant and want to claim R&D tax credits.… Read More
Yesterday’s budget included a high profile announcement of increasing R&D tax credits, and plenty of talk about supporting innovation and new technologies. Whilst this is all good news, we can’t help feeling that an opportunity has been missed to improve the support provided to smaller businesses.… Read More
I should start this article by giving the short answer, which is that I’ve no idea! Given the complex nature of the current situation, it’s impossible to know anything with any certainty regardless of whether you are for or against exiting the EU. On the other hand, there are a few interesting elements that might affect R&D spending in general and R&D tax credits in particular.… Read More
Part 2: Impact on the SME and RDEC schemes This is the second article in a series discussing the potential impacts of Brexit on UK R&D tax credit schemes. To read the first article in the series click here. Small Companies and the SME Scheme As we said previously, with … Read More
Another key aspect of R&D is the global, collaborative nature, particularly in sectors such as the pharmaceutical industry, and the UK government will be keen to ensure that changes required by Brexit are not seen to undermine our world class status.… Read More
There are a number of subtleties to the process of claiming R&D tax credits that can reduce or completely eliminate the value of a claim. Whilst some are unavoidable, here is a list of things that can potentially make a significant difference to the claims made by SMEs.… Read More
Since I’ve been handing R&D tax credit claims for a living, the companies I deal with the most are manufacturers, something that is also confirmed by the official statistics published by HMRC. Despite this, manufacturing is still an area where large numbers of companies are missing out on claims they … Read More
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships or KTPs are a long established mechanism for collaboration between universities and companies, supporting innovation and transfer of capabilities from universities to companies. This article shows how to maximise your R&D tax credit claim when you have an active KTP.… Read More