HM Revenue & Customs most recentstatistics show that East Anglian companies accounted for 10% of 22,445 Research & Development tax credits claims in the tax year ending 2014-2015.
HMRC paid back £250 million to companies in the east of England out of a total of £2.45 billion tax relief paid out nationwide under its R&D tax credit scheme.
Many owners of small and medium limited companies are still unaware that they could claim back or save thousands of pounds in corporation tax from the Government.
The figures show that over the last five years the east of England is lagging behind other regions in terms of the increase in numbers of claims by small and medium businesses.
Since 2010, the amounts claimed by east of England small and medium businesses have only increased by 198% compared to the North East at 438% and London at 364%.
The country’s leading R&D tax credit specialist Jumpstart now has a Client Engagement Manager based in Norfolk to raise awareness of the scheme across Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
Jumpstart’s Client Engagement Manager Lee Williams is appealing for businesses to come forward to apply for tax credits for any project where there has been an advance in technology or science – not solely scientific advances.
Relevant sectors which are eligible also include software and IT, manufacturing and engineering, energy and food and drink.
There are two schemes; The SME scheme and Research & Development Expenditure Credit scheme for larger companies and retrospective claims can be made up to 2 years.
The figures show that 75% of claims were made from the ‘Manufacturing’ ‘Professional, Scientific & Technical’ and ‘Information & Communication’ sectors.
Mr Williams has almost 30 years of financial sector experience helping SME’s reach/exceed their goals said: “These latest HMRC figures show that there is still more work to be done in promoting the tax relief scheme for small and medium sized companies”
“Furthermore, local companies could be under claiming or over claiming because their technical project activities and expenditures are not being accurately interpreted against legislation. As well as the introduction of increased scrutiny by HMRC, the process of claiming is very much a technical assessment, so it is important that companies instruct a specialist advisor.”
Since its inception, Jumpstart has helped its clients recover almost £80 million in R&D tax relief and has identified nearly £404 million in eligible R&D expenditure.
To find out more please contact Jumpstart’s Client Engagement Manager for East Anglia on [email protected] or ring 07794 201990