Games
Closely aligned to the software sector, the computer games industry is constantly pushing up against the performance limits of existing gaming hardware platforms and the constraints of current development tools, languages and environments. This sector is often concerned with improving the speed and performance of games through the development of new or improved control and data processing algorithms. Jumpstart’s partnership with one of the UK industry’s biggest trade bodies, UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE), in 2011, further strengthens Jumpstart’s commitment to this industry.
Testimonials
"When we found out about Jumpstart we were fairly close to our year-end so things got underway at pretty short notice. It was a huge relief that the Jumpstart people understood our business. That made a big difference. When you deal with an accountant you have to continually explain the technical stuff. When you deal with a technical guy, you have to explain the financial stuff. With Jumpstart both sides were understood so that was great from our point of view. You have no idea how useful it is not needing to explain what a digital download is; not needing to stop every 40 seconds to explain that no, bandwidth isn’t the space between Ringo Star and John Lennon! It was more than handy that the Technical Analyst from Jumpstart got it!
It was a very new situation for us to be looking at an R&D Tax claim so to be honest we were not that bothered about it all. Jumpstart drafted the report, we pinged it back with a few amendments and then it was sent to HMRC and the lap of the Gods! We were just getting on with our business, cracking on with what we do and too busy to think about the outcome to be honest. Yes, we got a good result - brilliant! As you can imagine we get lots of spam offering us to save money on this and that, so what made a difference for us was to know that Jumpstart had already helped a fellow games industry colleague. We felt we had nothing to lose when he said that Jumpstart could do this for us, and we would happily recommend them to others."
Dermot Stapleton, Operations Director
Mastertronic Group Ltd
"I was certain that we had a strong claim. Our work at 4T2 is highly innovative, so I was fairly sure we would get money back. The Jumpstart process was uncomplicated and their people were very efficient in their approach. It was evident that they had good expertise around game development and a detailed knowledge of HMRC requirements. This gave us confidence so we knew our application was being well handled and that Jumpstart was addressing the queries that HMRC may have had about our activities.
Using the Jumpstart team avoids the need to have technical or management staff spend undue time drafting relatively complex reports and then fielding due diligence questions. The whole process went smoothly and I would certainly recommend them."
John White, Managing Director
4T2
“We had been aware of R&D tax credits for many years and assumed that ‘tax credits’ were something our accountant should deal with. However, several accountants advised us we were unlikely to receive credits worthy of the effort needed to file a claim. This, we believe in hindsight, was their lack of knowledge about our industry, what the R&D tax credit scheme is designed to do and how it works.
I had been approached by Jumpstart over three years before engaging with them but had rebuffed their advances in bowing to our accountant’s advice! How wrong could we have been?
Jumpstart’s understanding of the process, their technical expertise and their professionalism helped us distinguish between the development of products that were commercially new, and those which were eligible. Jumpstart helped us understand the criteria of the programme and took on full project management of our application, giving us frequent updates so we knew what was going on. Our six-figure claim was quickly approved in full and provided invaluable assistance to our company.
I am absolutely convinced, if we had employed Jumpstart’s service after their initial approach, and not delayed; our overall claims would be closer to 7 figures. (claims are limited to the previous 2 tax years and the current year). We’ve already recommended Jumpstart’s service to other software and technology companies and my unfailing recommendation to any business is ‘don’t delay, work with these guys, the benefits are enormous! ”
Euan Mackenzie, CEO
3MRT Ltd
“Jumpstart did a very thorough job in producing and adapting their technical report and figures so that the claims could be made. Jumpstart was a very valuable addition in our role as tax advisers providing us with comprehensive evidence of the extent of the technical work that the company had already undertaken. They were very pleasant to deal with, responsive to changes, and were able to deal promptly with all our requests. I would definitely recommend them. ”
Laurence Bard, Specialist Tax Partner
BGT Tax
“We originally applied for R&D tax credits through our company accountant. My impression was that it was a straightforward process and it was just a case of applying. It was when we got the first response from HMRC that I realised I was very mistaken. I became unhappy with our accountants as I felt they were not providing the expert advice we needed. They led us to believe that all we needed to do was fill in a form but after two or three exchanges with HMRC I realised that we had not been well briefed at all. At that point HRMC was digging in and it was unclear if we were going to get anything back at all. Our accountants were happy to continue but they got paid whether we won the claim or not.
I decided to move to Jumpstart after a colleague at Think Tank Maths told us about their services and they quickly set about resolving the situation for us. I was very impressed. They were very clear at the outset about what was achievable and what was not. That was very reassuring, as they knew what HMRC needed to see from us. Jumpstart focuses on R&D Tax Credits and nothing else. It was quickly obvious they were experts. Initially, we had taken far too broad an approach and Jumpstart reset our expectations. They ran the entire process for us, liaising on our behalf with HMRC. We had input but Jumpstart took us through each stage. I would absolutely recommend them. ”
Nigel Eccles, CEO and Co-Founder
Hubdub Ltd