Innovation is the life blood of industry - and that’s why HMRC offers your company generous tax relief to invest in research and development (R&D). This relief can either reduce your tax liability or if you have tax losses, you can claim a refund against your PAYE and NIC instead.  Either way it’s a welcome cash injection into your business. 

Is it just for technical boffins?

Most companies think this relief to just for high tech sectors, but that’s certainly not the case. We’ve made successful claims for clients of all shapes and sizes and in a wide range of sectors too.
We get frequently asked, “can we claim...”:

• …if we’ve received a grant?
• …if we’re making taxable losses?
• …if we’re a subsidiary?
• …if the project isn’t successful?
• …without a patent in place?

The answer to all of these questions is…yes!  

Who can claim research and development tax relief?

First of all, you need to be a company which is liable to corporation tax. If you’re currently trading as a sole trader, partnership or LLP and intend to spend a significant amount on research and development, then it would be a good idea to talk to us about incorporating.

The amount of relief depends on the size of your company, and the rates change in the Budget periodically. We’ve put the current rates in our resources guide for you to have a read through, but we’re also more than happy to talk you through them. 

What qualifies as research and development tax relief?

The official definition is that you need to be working on a project which ‘advances existing science or technology’, and the work you are doing isn’t easily deducible by others working in your field. So in other words you’ve spent time thinking, trialling and testing something. If that’s what you’ve done, then let’s get started. We’ve claimed literally millions of pounds back in tax for our clients and we’d love you to be next.

We’ve lost count of the successful claims we’ve made for small to medium sized companies in sectors, including:

• engineering
• vehicle repairs
• IT and software
• logistics
• road markings
• vending machine manufacturers
• electrical insulation
• clothing.

We’ll pull together a detailed claim made up of costs such as:

• employment and subcontractor costs
• materials
• testing and trialling costs
• energy and utility bills
• software and licences
• capital allowances on capital expenditure.