Research and Development Tax Consultancy services

To encourage innovation, the government has been offering generous tax reliefs for companies engaged in research and development (R&D) for several years now.

Often an assumption is made that only companies such as scientific or medical research companies are eligible. However, these tax incentives in fact potentially apply to a very broad range of activities and you may well qualify.

Even if you are not yet making a profit you can benefit from the relief too.

Our R&D Consultants get to know your business operations, how you are innovating and work with you to prepare R&D claims and much more:

Essentially, if your company is engaged in projects which seek to achieve an advance of some sort in overall knowledge or capability in a certain field of science or technology, then you could be classed as being engaged in R&D activity.

Additionally, you do have to be able to demonstrate that the advancement was not readily deductible by any competent professional in the field. In practical terms, a broad range of activities could be included. Some examples are:

Developing a new product
Improving an existing product
Creating a new process
Creating certain computer software.

The types of costs that can qualify for R&D tax incentives include:

Staff costs for employees involved in the R&D, apportioned based on their time spent on the qualifying activities
Costs of subcontractors or externally provided workers assisting the R&D (usually restricted to 65%)
Software used in the R&D, apportioned between qualifying and non-qualifying activities
Costs relating to items consumed in the qualifying activities, such as materials used in creating a prototype or testing a process. Fuel, power and water may also qualify.

It may well be that your company is already engaged in some of these activities and you could qualify for this generous incentive. Small and medium sized companies are eligible to claim an additional 130% (86% from April 2023) tax relief on all qualifying expenditure.

How do R&D Tax credits work:

Company A spends £50,000 developing better packaging to maintain the quality of their product
R&D tax relief will allow an additional £65,000 (£43,000 from April 2023 (to be deducted from the company's profit for tax purposes)
This means the overall reduction in the company A's tax bill as a result of the R&D expenditure is up to £12,350 (£10,750 from April 2023).

Our R&D consultants have built up a considerable amount of R&D consultancy experience since the incentives were first introduced by the UK government at the turn of the millennium.

We provide R&D guidance to companies of many different sizes, across multiple sectors claim tax relief on their R&D expenditure. Get in touch to speak to one of our R&D specialists.

Research and Development Tax Credits statistics

The statistics show the first ever decrease in the total amount of relief claimed by businesses year on year. A 7% decrease.

In contrast, the number of Research and Development (R&D) claims submitted has increased again by 11%.

We are probably seeing the impact of the covid pandemic suppressing the ability to innovate and generally reducing spend.

In the post pandemic period we would suspect that those numbers will climb significantly, especially in response to the current economic conditions.

There has also been a drop in the number of first time claimants for the first time since 2010, a drop of 4%. This could be down to some of the recent negative press and ‘cold callers’ putting businesses off making a claim.

At Lovewell Blake we work with businesses who complete genuine R&D to establish and submit a claim, but we do stand firmly against bogus claims and are pleased to see the increased HMRC crackdown on fraudulent activity.

The full article from HMRC can be found here.

If you would like to discuss claiming R&D tax credits, our specialist team are available to help you.

Recent Podcasts

Listen to our latest R&D podcast

Sam Palmer and Ed Passmore have been talking about the R&D tax relief services that Lovewell Blake offer. A lot of businesses don't believe that they are eligible for the tax relief but is it something that your business should be considering?

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Jon Matchett and Scott Hansell, Financial Advisers for Lovewell Blake Financial Planning discuss all things finance, the Spring Budget announcements and the tax year-end. Jon and Scott talk pensions, ISAs, recent changes and what you can do to maximise your tax year-end planning.

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Nathan Bowden and Matt Lebron from the Bury St Edmunds office at Lovewell Blake, recently spent some time talking about all things digital. Join them as they discuss the risks to not adopting technology, making sure your business is futureproof and the importance of utilising staff who like and understand technology.

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Research and Development Tax Consulting Articles

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R&D Tax Credits - What you need to know

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Key partners and staff

Mary Schofield

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Tax Consultant

Sam Palmer

Assistant Manager

R&D Tax Relief changes

08.08.2023

Sam Palmer

Research and Development, Tax

2 min read

HMRC is currently scrutinising claims for R&D tax relief, following increased media attention and parliament focus. The government has recently made its first steps towards reforming the R&D tax relief scheme, but the biggest changes are due to come into force on 8 August 2023.

Research and development tax relief – too good to be true?

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Sam Palmer

Tax

3 min read

Research and development tax reliefs can provide substantial help to businesses investing in innovation – but HMRC is increasingly cracking down on unjustified claims, says Sam Palmer of Lovewell Blake.

Research and Development Alert - R&D Tax Credit payments

19.05.2022

Sam Palmer

Research and Development

1 min read

HMRC announced yesterday that some R&D Tax Credit payments will be suspended whilst it investigates fraud and abuse of the incentive programme.

R&D Tax Relief: FTT ruling to benefit SME claimants

06.01.2022

Sam Palmer

Research and Development

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R&D tax credits can provide vital support to innovative businesses. The scheme available to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) can provide an enhanced deduction (up to 230% of qualifying expenditure) against taxable profits and/or a cash repayment.

Too many East Anglian businesses missing out on valuable R&D tax reliefs, says regional expert.

28.04.2021

Mary Schofield

Research and Development

2 min read

Many East Anglian businesses are missing out on generous research and development tax reliefs because they don’t realise they are eligible – or even that they are carrying out R&D in the first place. That is the view of one of the region’s leading R&D tax experts, who is leading a special webinar next month with the aim of helping more firms to access the valuable tax breaks.

Research and Development Tax Consulting

How do R&D Tax credits work:

Research and Development Tax Credits statistics

Recent Podcasts

Listen to our latest R&D podcast

All things finance, tax and year-end

All things digital

Different because you are

Research and Development Tax Consulting Articles

Key partners and staff

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