Haines Watts, Chartered Accountants and Business Advisors in Tamworth talk about how they are successfully working with their clients to claim R&D tax credits.
In many cases that we’ve worked on, the business owners do not believe that the investments they have made in their business are eligible for R&D tax relief. It is believed that over 90% of eligible companies also hold this belief and as a result are not claiming the tax relief they are entitled to. This assumption however couldn’t be further from the truth.
There is no great mystery to qualifying for R&D tax relief. It can apply to any sector (not just technology and science as the phrase ‘research and development’ implies) but any qualifying activity must seek to attain appreciable improvement to existing material, device, product, service and process.
Much of this is fundamental to what businesses do in order to grow, but many business owners overlook the potential for a claim as they see the activity and associated expense as merely a necessary part of the everyday running of their business.
Steve Holden, Tax Partner at Haines Watts’ offices in Tamworth and Ashby, explained:
“R&D tax credits are not just for niche operators, they can be applied to almost any business that is taking strides to improve its efficiency and advance its offerings to its clients.”
Think back over the past 2 years and ask yourself, have I…
- Looked for a more efficient or more effective solution;
- Made improvements to an existing product or created a new product;
- Investigated new methods or processes;
- Trialled new computer code or materials;
- Solved problems or overcame issues for customers (without being paid to do so!).
If the answer to any of these is yes, then the chances are that you’re eligible for R&D Tax relief.
In relation to a recent claim, Steve has this to say:
“We recently explored the availability of R&D tax credits with one our clients in the manufacturing and retail sector, SDI Displays Ltd. They had previously filed a claim with another adviser which they were fairly pleased with, which was in the tens of thousands. However, when we became involved with the client and really started to dig deeper into all of the investments, improvements, products and processes we were able to achieve a figure in excess of a quarter of a million pound back from HM Revenue & Customs even though an initial claim had already been made.”
Ian Wright from SDI Displays Ltd had this to say about Haines Watts:
“At my tax planning meeting with Steve, he suggested that we explore R&D tax credits. “I knew we were doing some R&D with the products we were making but I had no idea that the work we were doing within our business could qualify.
“The team at Haines Watts were brilliant at exploring our business processes and the investment improvements we had made. I had no idea these would qualify for R&D tax benefits.
“The claim figure was nothing short of astonishing! As you can imagine we were very happy with the outcome.
“I would recommend any business to engage with Haines Watts and see what R&D tax relief they can qualify for”.
If you’re unsure about whether your business qualifies for R&D tax relief, then call our offices in Tamworth or Ashby and Steve Holden and our team will be happy to speak with you.
To find out how Haines Watts could support your business call 01827 61835 or contact us tamworth@hwca.com
Read our latest R&D publication
https://www.hwca.com/files/pdfs/Rewarding-Innovation-Development-brochure-Tamworth-Ashby.pdf