We won’t lie to you, R&D tax credits can be a complicated business.
For a start, HMRC’s CIRD (Corporate Intangibles and Research and Development – rolls right off the tongue, doesn’t it!) guidelines run to 500 pages, which is enough to put anyone off!
There is also a good chance you’ll be bombarded with advice informing you of the ins and outs and the what’s and wherefores of making a claim – until your head is spinning like a merry-go-round. Argh, you think, where do I start?
It’s OK, just breathe, it’ll all be all right on the night, if you make sure you follow this simple rule…
The FIRST thing to do for a successful R&D tax credit claim is to identify all of the eligible R&D carried out in your company. Ta-dah! Yes, that’s it. Bit of an anti-climax isn’t it?
Sounds obvious but you’d be surprised at just how many companies forget this first simple step, resulting in an over complicated claim process and a less than maximised claim to boot (along with some tears of frustration).
A technical approach is at the heart of any successful R&D tax credit claim, after all, it is the money spent on eligible R&D projects that determines the size of your claim.
Once you have this first simple step in place the financial side follows on nicely, and whilst complications can arise, especially if grants or subcontracting are involved, planning around a defined project makes everything easier.
For no nonsense expert advice on how to make YOUR claim process as easy as possible, talk to Jumpstart.
We’re Top of The Tree and may even help you uncover some R&D that you didn’t know was there!
