Research and Development Tax Credits within the Engineering sector

With engineering encompassing such a vast range of industries, ranging from aerospace to transportation, our lives are impacted daily by changes within this sector. As a result, research and development (R&D) is an essential element of day-to-day practice for those working in this field.

Being eligible for R&D tax credit centres around two key areas. You need to be either:

Producing new or improved products.

Design and develop a product involving some degree of uncertainty, for which the answers were not obvious.

Engineering requires a huge amount of research and development (R&D) to take place. Depending on the discipline, this take the form of identification and solving of potential risks. This could also include the development of computer simulations and modelling. All of this takes place alongside continual testing and refining until a solution is found.

Examples of technological uncertainties within Engineering

Adapting existing technologies to suit a specific purpose

During the process of creating a new product or refining an existing one, engineers will often face technological uncertainties. Whenever working with new and innovative technologies, these are often when deciding whether they will be suitable for the task at hand, or interact with existing components.

Choice of materials

Trial and experimentation will often be needed when choosing which materials to use for new products or components. Some materials will be unsuitable for the task at hand; for example, they may need to be waterproof, or be able to support a certain weight. Other times a material will be incompatible for the build because it can directly conflict with other materials that are in use.

Compliance with regulations

Differing global markets will have different rules and regulations that cover a host of areas. It’s these changes in standards that can create a number of uncertainties that will need addressing. Even when these are seemingly simple to implement at the start, these can require a great deal of research and development (R&D) to work. In some cases, these changes can result with the project bearing only a passing resemblance to the original design.

Integration of existing components

Creating products that work with each other can create some very hard to tackle problems, even when using “off the shelf” components. This is because it’s common for there to be substantial reworking of a product to ensure compatibility. If existing components aren’t available, engineers will need to develop these. Because of this, projects can need substantial experimentation and redesign to work as intended.

Testimonials from our Engineering clients

Effective Team and does what it says on the tin.
Richard Orridge, Financial Director, DSSL Group Limited
Fiscale has surpassed our expectations in all areas. They offer unrivalled levels of support, advice and professionalism; but above all else, they get results!
Jan Herbert, Director, GMC Group
Fiscale made the whole process straight forward from start to finish and we look forward to working with them again on our next years R&D tax return
The team at Fiscale have a very friendly & professional approach, seeming to enjoy learning about the products we are involved with. They produce clear and concise reports to substantiate our claim. They have made claiming R&D Tax Credits as simple as possible.
Chris Eiffert, Circad

Sound like familiar challenges? 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.

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