R&D tax credits are designed to support businesses that work on innovative projects across all sectors. We come across many businesses that don’t realise they qualify for R&D tax credits, or they’re not claiming their full entitlement.
We have a 7-step process to make claiming R&D tax credits really easy. Our friendly and effective advice will generate value for your business by delivering the best possible results, both for your claim and for the re-investment opportunities that it creates for your business.
Our exact time required depends on your business and its needs, but these are the steps we follow:
We have a 7-step process to make claiming R&D tax credits really easy. Our friendly and effective advice will generate value for your business by delivering the best possible results, both for your claim and for the re-investment opportunities that it creates for your business.
Our exact time required depends on your business and its needs, but these are the steps we follow:
1. Getting to know you
With us, you’ll always meet who you’re working with and we’ll take the time to get to know you. Before we come out to meet you, we’ll gather some initial information so we can get to know your projects. We think this is important for us to be able to collaborate effectively.
2. Getting to know your business
When we meet, we’ll ask questions to make sure you’re claiming everything you can. So often, we see people doing things every day that counts as R&D for tax purposes; it’s just a natural part of your day for you. We’ll talk you through the full process so you know what the next steps are and where we might need your help.
3. Develop your bespoke service
We’ll take everything away once we have agreed a methodology with you and gathered all the technical information we need. Whether you do the parts you’d like, or have us do all the heavy-lifting, we make the process smooth, manageable and rewarding.
4. Creating your report and claim
We will create a report for you to review. It will include a technical narrative, a summary of the costs you have incurred and how we have arrived at your R&D tax credit calculation. We’ll have a call with you to talk it through and make sure you’re happy with everything.
5. Dealing with HMRC
We’ll take care of everything to ensure minimal hold-ups and queries. We’ll ensure everything is put into HMRC’s language and format for you. Before we submit your claim, we will have another member of the team give it a thorough review to make sure nothing’s missed. In the unlikely event HMRC does have any questions on your claim, we’ll deal with all of these on your behalf, so you don’t have to worry. We’ll also help your accountants too, or we can amend your Corporation Tax return to incorporate your R&D tax credit calculation – whatever you prefer.
6. Closing your HMRC project
It normally takes HMRC between four to six weeks to process a claim. Once it’s processed, you’ll receive your tax credit amount into your bank account.
7. Future recommendations
We’ll make sure you’re left with best practices to ensure your future R&D claims are as efficient as possible. We’ll give you recommendations and processes to make the best business decisions and make it really easy for you to make future claims.
Some tips:
To create a well-evidenced claim, we need to present the main R&D activities that were ongoing in the year and justify why their costs can be included. It’s possible to put this detail together retrospectively. However, it really helps to record things as you go. The key bits of information to keep tabs of (if you’ve got them) are:
- Project start and end dates
. - Timesheets of employees involved (to identify time spent on R&D)
- Details of any subcontracted R&D or agency staff brought in to help
- The key technical uncertainties (challenges) faced and how you overcame them
- Why what you’re working on represents an advance on an industry level
- If you use accounting software, work with your accountant or FD to make use of tags or labels and tag R&D related expenses using your accounting software