Having successful R&D claims are not always straightforward, take our client in the engineering sphere. They have talked to other research and development consultancies, but when the consultancies looked at their work, they said it didn’t qualify. Almost fully discouraged, they decided to give it one last go and talk to us at Optimal Compliance and we are so glad they did because we were able to find some incredible projects worthy of R&D tax relief.
Being able to benefit from R&D tax relief can provide invaluable cash flow for companies, and help support and grow their business. The money could be used for more innovative research, new machinery, to attract new talent or even improve facilities. The government offers research and development tax credit because it knows how beneficial it is to companies, and countries as a whole. Therefore, we were incredibly proud that despite all, we were able to complete a successful claim for our client.
Although a lot of the work our client was doing was routine, when we spoke to the tech team we found a lot of innovation. Specifically, in the team that was working on building energy efficiency, and were responsible for finding ways to solve problems involving thermodynamics, materials science and relied heavily on mechanical engineering. The bespoke nature of many of these projects meant that their solutions had to be innovative enough to fit either the specific structure and architecture of the building. In short, each problem required a highly technical and innovative solution, which to us sounds like R&D and HMRC thought so too.
Research and development can be very tricky and is highly specialised, and not all companies R&D tax claims are straightforward. Very often we come across companies who don’t know about R&D tax relief and that’s why they don’t claim but this client was different. Unfortunately, our client felt like they had R&D worthy but other R&D companies didn’t seem to agree. With R&D tax credit being such a valuable part of a businesses income stream, we are so proud we were able to claim £239,500 tax credit for our engineering client, something that they may have otherwise missed.
Not only that, but we also started the process only six weeks before the final submission deadline and still managed to create a successful claim of that size. Had we missed the deadline, the company would not have been able to claim back the money for qualifying activities of one the years in question because there is a claim time limit of two years from the end of your accounting period. This is a testament both to our client, who were available and a pleasure to work with, and the hard work of our consultants who worked tirelessly to get it all done in time.
This experience taught us that when it comes to a company choosing their R&D consultants they must do proper research and find the business that will fight in your corner. By missing this crucial step, you may prevent your business from claiming back thousands or sometimes millions.
We at Optimal Compliance constantly invest in our multi-disciplinary team and have a partnership structure, where everyone gets involved to ensure we get the best for our clients. Our processes are not designed to quickly churn out R&D claims that end up missing information or watered down, instead, we treat each claim like it was our own company on the line and we were the ones receiving R&D tax benefits.
Are you within the engineering sector and doing innovative technical or scientific work? Did you think about claiming R&D tax relief? Feel free to get in touch with one of us by visiting the contact us page or scheduling a free consultation below at the time that best suits you.
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