Thinking about next year’s claim? Here are some of the ways an R&D Tax Credits specialist can save you time, money and stress.
If you’ve just filed for R&D Tax Credits, you’ll be well aware of how much time, energy, and patience it takes to prepare an accurate, compliant claim.
From extracting technical information from your development team to scouring your financial records for claimable costs, compiling an HMRC-ready submission can take weeks, sometimes months of work.
This time incurs a significant opportunity cost – especially if senior team members are involved – not to mention a great deal of stress.
Thankfully, there is a way to dramatically reduce the burden an R&D Tax Credits claim places on your team: using an R&D Tax Credits specialist.
If you’re already thinking about how to handle this year’s filing, here are some of the ways an R&D Tax Credits specialist will make your life significantly easier.
Taking over your data collection
One of the most challenging and time-consuming parts of R&D Tax Credits claims is working with your technical team to understand which aspects of their development work qualify for the scheme.
Knowing which projects are and aren’t eligible means muscling in on your developers’ or engineers’ busy schedules, uncovering areas of innovation and uncertainty, and filtering this information through HMRC’s long and, at times, unwieldy criteria.
An R&D Tax Credits specialist can really lighten the load here. Our technical consultants – former scientists and engineers with significant field experience – will speak directly to your developers and engineers, extracting the required information, often in a single phone call.
By talking directly to your technical team, our consultants can identify all areas of qualifying R&D, including work they might have assumed was ineligible.
If your claim is particularly large or complex, they can also host quarterly workshops with your developers, capturing all relevant detail before it’s forgotten.
On average, we free up four working days worth of our clients’ senior technical people’s time – a significant saving they can reinvest in high-value R&D.
Writing your technical report
Once our consultants have gathered the required technical data, they’ll compile a watertight technical report.
The technical report addresses the six questions in the additional information form, which is mandatory for all claims filed after 8 August 2023.
Submitting an accurate, well-written, and accessible technical report proves to HMRC that your projects meet the government’s definition of qualifying R&D for tax purposes. This significantly reducing your chances of an enquiry.
An HMRC enquiry is a lengthy investigation into your claim’s eligibility and accuracy. Facing an enquiry will delay your funding by several months and may lead to a reduction in funding and repetitional damage with the tax agency.
The trick to an effective technical report is to explain your development work in a way your tax inspector will understand. That makes it easier for your inspector to determine whether your R&D qualifies for the scheme.
Translating complex R&D into HMRC-friendly language takes a strong technical background and years of practice. It’s a skill our technical consultants have down to a tee.
Finding every penny of eligible expenditure
Another challenging aspect of claiming for R&D Tax Credits is making sure you’re claiming for every penny possible. Given the intricate allowances of the R&D Tax Relief scheme and the complexities of financial data, this can be surprisingly difficult.
Based on the work of our technical experts, who will uncover all of your qualifying R&D, our financial consultants will go through your financial records and identify all areas of eligible expenditure on your behalf.
This includes spending on indirect activities – a vague category of development work many companies struggle to navigate with confidence.
Our R&D Tax Credits consultants can also work directly with your accountant, saving you any back and forth with them.
By getting the full costs through, we may also be able to help us identify additional eligible expenditure, increasing your claim size and the funding you’ll receive through the scheme.
Giving you peace of mind
During the often-stressful filing season, working with an R&D Tax Credits consultant like GrantTree can give you much-needed peace of mind.
An experienced provider will be aware of all the scheme’s latest legislation, ensuring your claim is fully compliant. Filing a compliant claim, supported by a watertight additional information form, is the best way to avoid an HMRC enquiry, which could embroil your finance and technical teams in months of back-and-forths with tax inspectors.
Over the last 11 years, GrantTree has built up a firm reputation with HMRC. We’re often asked to consult on legislative changes and provide feedback more informally on a consistent basis.
Having a trusted provider attached to your claim can give your inspector extra confidence that it’s eligible for funding. All of which can alleviate any worries you may have about facing trouble from HMRC.
Get specialist help for your next R&D Tax Credits claim
The process of claiming R&D Tax Credits can be complex and resource-intensive.
But by working with an R&D Tax Credits specialist, you can maximise next year’s claim and reduce your chances of an HMRC investigation, all while saving you time, money and stress.
To speak to one of our R&D Tax Credits specialists about filing your claim next year, just get in touch. We’ll be right with you.
