Introduced by the UK Government in 2000, the R&D tax relief scheme is designed to encourage innovation and global competitiveness by allowing companies to reclaim some of the money invested in qualifying research and development.
R&D tax credits are generally considered to be one of the most attractive tax reliefs available, often resulting in significant cash repayments from HMRC.
R&D in Aerospace
From an R&D perspective, the aerospace industry is a rich and diverse field, covering research, design, manufacture, operation, and maintenance, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications.
This includes design and manufacture of civil and military aeroplanes, manned and unmanned, as well as missiles. It also includes space components, such as satellites. R&D projects in aerospace may involve work on aircraft components or subcomponents, or on the entire aircraft.
What are the potential areas of eligibility?
A vast range of activity, which could include:
- Any development projects that, if successful, would require an STC (Supplemental Type Certificate) or LSTC (Limited STC).
- Increase in strength or decrease in weight.
- New materials/composites, or substituting new materials on an existing airframe design.
- Decrease acoustic emission/noise pollution.
- Developing new test methods e.g.
- building rigs for full-scale component test.
- developing material properties tests for composite materials.
- Developing new repair methods for existing aircraft parts, including development of new jigs, restraints, welding methods, etc.
- Developing substitutes for OEM-specified materials or methods that are obsolete.
What problems might a company face?
- Trade-off between mechanical strength/durability and low weight requirements.
- Difficulty joining dissimilar materials, e.g. a composite to a metal.
- Difficulty predicting onset of corrosion, metal fatigue.
- Unknown effects of modifications on material strength.
- Problems carrying out NDT (non-destructive testing) on completed components.
- Unpredictable effects of component modifications on flight dynamics.
Eligibility questionnaire
If you can answer 'Yes' to most of these questions, then based on our experience across thousands of clients, it looks like you could have a successful claim:
- Have you developed new tools, products or services using technology?
- Have you tried to improve your existing products through technical changes?
- Have you had to resolve technical problems with any of your products?
- Have you found more efficient ways to produce your products or services?
- Have you experimented with new equipment or production techniques?
- At the start of a project, did you ever think 'I'm not sure of the best way to do this'?
- Have any of your projects failed for technical reasons?
Why Jumpstart?
THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR EXPERIENCE AND EXPERTISE. Experience gained through years of daily involvement in putting together thousands of successful R&D tax claims. Expertise built through a detailed programme of training and study, maintained and regularly enhanced.
We have helped literally thousands of businesses, some of whom had no idea they would qualify, to recover over a WHOPPING £100m in R&D tax relief benefits.
