RDS - R&D Tax Credits
At R&D Specialists Ltd (RDS) we keep it simple and only offer R&D tax credit relief, making us the specialists in helping companies, like yours, navigate through the HMRC scheme. We have been in business since 2017 and so far we’ve have helped over 1000 clients successfully claim.
If you are looking for honest, knowledgeable advice & a partner to help you claim your eligible R&D tax credits, then we are the partner for you.
No upfront fees
We only bill when your claim is successful, unlike many providers who have upfront, hidden or minimum fees
£55m+
Unlocked for our clients allowing them to reinvest in their businesses and grow
£7.6bn
Claimed by UK businesses in the 21/22 financial year (as reported by HMRC) and likely to increase year on year
We are an R&D specialists with offices based in Manchester, Birmingham and Nottingham, offering a personal service that focuses solely on helping companies, like yours, identify, quantify, and successfully claim their R&D costs back from HMRC.
The 1000+ companies and 250+ accountants we work with cover many different sectors, including Construction, Manufacturing, Engineering, Food & Drink, IT & Software, Professional, Scientific and Technical.
We purely work on a success only basis and not only quantify and calculate a claim’s value, but also document it in a summary report, to justify the claim to HMRC. 99% of our claims have never incurred a question from HMRC, and should a question arise, part of our process is to answer these on behalf of the client, without you incurring additional costs.
Any UK business could potentially qualify for R&D tax relief, regardless of market sector or industry. The RDS team will quickly determine if any area of your business is eligible.
In order to qualify as an SME for R&D tax relief, your company (along with any other linked companies) must employ fewer than 500 people with a turnover of under €100m or a balance sheet under €86m. SME tax relief allows the business to deduct an extra 130% of their qualifying costs from its yearly profit and the tax relief is normally obtained via corporation tax reduction with a benefit of 24.7% of qualifying R&D spend. There is a payable tax credit, with a receivable benefit of up to 33.3% of qualifying R&D spend, for loss making companies. Depending on your business’s tax position, there may be more tax efficient options available which the team will explain to you before submitting the claim.
Businesses that are above the SME limits are eligible to apply for relief through the RDEC scheme. This works differently to the SME scheme, with a claimant company potentially receiving a net benefit of up to 10.5% of its qualifying R&D spend.
The RDEC scheme is also available to SME companies to claim for projects that have already received funding. R&D tax relief can be claimed retrospectively, for up to two years after the end of the accounting period via an amendment to a corporation tax return. The RDS team will review the two accounting periods to assess whether R&D activity took place.
The Research and Development tax relief scheme was introduced in 2000 by HMRC to support UK companies that work on innovative projects in science and technology and provides a potential cash refund or credit against corporation tax.
Here are some key points about R&D tax credits:
Purpose
Impact
By reducing the effective cost of R&D activities, these credits aim to promote continuous innovation and keep businesses competitive in a rapidly evolving global market.
The team at RDS will work with you to establish whether your business is eligible for R&D relief on a no win no fee basis.
You might be surprised at how much benefit an R&D claim could be to your business.
Use our handy R&D tax relief calculator to find out how much you could be claiming back.
When claiming R&D tax credits, companies can typically include a range of expenses associated with their research and development activities.
By identifying and claiming all eligible R&D expenses, companies can significantly reduce their tax liabilities, thereby freeing up resources to reinvest in further innovation and development activities.
an element of staff salary costs as well as employer’s NIC & employer pensions costs relating to employees’ time whilst actively engaged in research and development projects.
carried out by third parties on your behalf relating to the R&D.
used directly in R&D including prototyping and concept development costs.
Where the software is required to enable the process of R&D.
related in specific proportions to the R&D projects.
where these costs occur in order to enable your R&D to occur.
In the UK, R&D tax credits are available across a wide range of sectors. Any company that undertakes qualifying research and development activities can potentially claim these credits, regardless of the industry. We have helped businesses across a range of sectors claim R&D tax credits for their innovative work.
MANUFACTURING
CONSTRUCTION
ENGINEERING
TECHNOLOGY & COMMUNICATIONS
AGRICULTURE
FOOD & DRINK
ARCHITECTURE
SCIENCE & MEDICINE
SOFTWARE & IT
AEROSPACE
DEFENCE & MILITARY
PHARMACEUTICAL
An initial phone call or face-to-face meeting is typically the first step, so that one of our Business Development Managers (BDM’s) can discuss potentially qualifying R&D projects with you & explain the activities that can be included within an R&D claim.
Following a successful eligibility check, our team will officially engage with you & request the straightforward financial information required from you and your accountant in order to analyse the R&D costs. A report call / meeting will also be carried out so that a justification report can be created.
Once the claim financials and report have been completed, our team will liaise with you to discuss the final claim and get feedback from you & a confirmation that all eligible activity has been included. Following the review and claim sign off, we will submit the information to your accountant.
One of the benefits of our approach is that we don’t tread on the toes of your accountant by taking over as your ‘agent’ with HMRC. We pass over the completed claim info to your accountant so that they can alter your corporation tax return (CT600) to include the figures, and also attach the report for HMRC.
We apply a straightforward, easily comprehensible process to all of our client claims. Our team will work hard to ensure that your claim meets the stringent requirements set by HMRC, from analysing and calculating the claim value to creating the research and development justification report.
You will have an initial telephone call or visit from one of our team to discuss whether your company meets the R&D claim requirements, before we progress the claim on a no win no fee basis.
A member of our specialist team will visit your business to gather relevant data and get a full understanding of your operation. The specialist advisor will scope your business in detail, identifying the extent of your qualifying activity and expenditure thus ensuring that we are able to maximise your claim.
The RDS team will produce a detailed R&D report, describing R&D activity within your business and justifying how this meets HMRC guidelines, along with a summary of qualifying R&D spend. We will then send the report to your accountant with instructions for submitting the claim to HMRC via the CT600 ‘Corporation Tax: Company Tax Return’ claim form.
It usually takes 28 days for HMRC to process the claim following submission of the CT600, after which you will receive your benefit.
In the case of an HMRC query, one of our specialists will respond immediately to ensure minimal delays in your claim.
Typically we don’t deal with claims which we haven’t created, as we don’t have the in depth knowledge of the claim & background to the reasoning around the submission, however, we are being approached by more companies now to try and assist with defending a claim to HMRC because their specialist advisor has walked away from them, or their accountant isn’t comfortable in responding to HMRC as required.
If your R&D advisor has disappeared or decided to no longer work on R&D claims then get in touch, and if we can help we will.
In the case of an HMRC query related to one of our client’s R&D claims, one of our specialists will respond immediately to ensure minimal delays in your claim. Unlike many providers, we don’t charge additional fees for claim defence, no hourly charges or day rates.
