Luckily, HMRC have purposefully written the legislation to be quite forgiving, meaning that there are many activities that would create eligibility.
What type of activities are considered eligible for R&D Tax Credits?
Since starting Fiscale in February 2014 you would not believe the number of conversations we have had with prospective clients who completely dismissed their eligibility for R & D Tax Credit within the first 30 seconds of talking to them! Of course once we had "scratched below the surface" of what they actually do in 80% of cases it became clear that they were indeed eligible.
Does my business qualify for R&D Tax Credit?
There are really just two questions to answer:
- Are we producing new or improved products, processes, services or software?
- Did the design and development of those products involve some uncertainty for which the answers were not obvious?
Here are some examples which help to put R&D into context:
R&D Tax Credits for manufacturing companies.
The manufacturing sector accounted for over 23% of all R&D Tax Credit claims in the 2016-17 tax year. When you consider the scope for creating new and improved products within manufacturing, it is understandable why this sector accounts for the most claims.
With the ongoing trend towards creating bespoke solutions to meet individual needs, along with the constant refining and updating of products, there are huge opportunities for manufacturing companies. As a result, they're able to capitalise on the benefits of the R&D Tax Credit scheme.
We have worked with a number of manufacturing clients including Icarus Training Systems, the world's leading supplier of inflatable evacuation slides for training airline cabin crews.
Icarus satisfied the criteria for eligibility as their products are bespoke to the particular client's specifications. The design and development also involves a degree of technological uncertainty. The variables for each client are unique to that client and the solution that is developed, takes into account the client's specific training needs, the type of aircraft being used, their training programme and simulator installation.
If you are in manufacturing why not give us a call on 01440 708333 to find out if you are eligible?
R&D Tax Credits for companies within the Information and Communications sector.
Over 25% of claims for R&D Tax Credit, in 2016-17, came from the Information and Communications sector. The creation of bespoke software systems generally satisfies the criteria for R&D Tax Credit claims.
John Mayhew, the founder of Fiscale experienced first-hand, the tremendous value of R&D Tax Credits. Over a four year period John's business, HET Software, received a total of around £300,000 of R&D Tax Credit funding.
The development of new software is fraught with uncertainty, especially when the developers are pushing the technological boundaries in their quest for user friendliness and integration with other third party software.
HET Software was a market leader in developing software solutions for the domiciliary care market. A highly demanding market sector HET's clients were looking for a solution that was easy to use (for carers and admin staff alike), highly customisable and secure and delivering a return on investment in as short a timeframe as possible.
The development of new software is fraught with uncertainty, especially when the developers are pushing the technological boundaries in their quest for user friendliness and integration with other third party software.
If your business is software development we are confident that you will qualify for R&D Tax Credits. Call 01440 708333 to find out more.
Call Fiscale Today!
Why not contact us today to discuss your business’ R&D tax relief? It only takes our team around 20 minutes to determine if you are eligible or not.
