First introduced in 2000 Research & Development tax reliefs (R&D) are designed to encourage businesses to invest in developing ‘new’ or ‘improved’ products. Many companies are put off by the words ‘Research and Development’. They often interpret the phrase as meaning that they have to be a research company, work from a laboratory, wear white coats or maintain a large team. In reality, if you innovate and improve the way something works in your business and the outcome lacked a degree of ‘certainty’ from the start, you may qualify. Fiscale is a specialist tax advisory company, formed in 2014. The world of R & D is ‘specialist’ and the current direction of travel from HMRC, is that businesses should engage with specialist tax advisory firms rather than ‘generalists’, after all, you wouldn’t expect your GP to undertake open-heart surgery, would you?! A recent survey showed that 71% of businesses that are claiming R&D, are using a specialist advisor. For R&D tax relief purposes, the deadline that applies is that an R&D claim needs to be submitted no later than 2 years following the financial year end of the business. In addition, from August 2023 there were new filing requirements, including making it mandatory for all businesses that put in an R&D claim to include an Additional Information Form, which is essentially a report to track all R&D activity and provides HMRC with specific information that they require to determine eligibility. Fiscale works with companies to identify qualifying projects and then help guide them through the submission process of both the financial and report elements of the claim. We have helped businesses from a broad range of sectors claim R&D tax reliefs from software developers to fudge manufacturers, and from construction businesses to sign manufacturers. Might your business be missing out on this opportunity and if so, maybe it’s worth a call to explore the possibilities? Please contact Joe Webster-Davids on 01440 708333 or email at [email protected]