Shropshire businesses missing out

A Shropshire tax expert is urging local businesses to make the most of tax opportunities when it comes to research and development.

Francesca Hutcheson (pictured below), from the tax planning team at Dyke Yaxley Chartered Accountants, in Shrewsbury, said R&D tax relief was one of the most generous tax incentives for innovative businesses in the UK.

“We have been making successful R&D claims for businesses across a wide range of industries for many years, with a 100% success rate with HM Revenue and Customs.

“And in the last 12 months alone, we’ve achieved claims of over £2 million, as well as generating significant cash-flow repayments and/or savings for our clients.

“The trouble is that many businesses simply don’t believe that what they do will qualify for this relief, and so they fail to put in a claim.

“In reality, successful claims are not restricted to companies with men in white coats in laboratories – and some of our most recent claims have been for traditional manufacturing businesses, and in the construction and IT sectors.”

Mrs Hutcheson said companies who failed to submit a claim were missing out on huge incentives, with up to 130% of additional tax relief available on qualifying costs such as salaries, materials, and a percentage of direct overheads.

Loss-making businesses can also benefit as they can surrender their tax losses for a cash repayment from the Government, which effectively subsidises their R&D during the start-up phase.

“The R&D relief is available to any company that can demonstrate what they do – or are trying to do – is sufficiently innovative, and that the process has a suitable degree of uncertainty right from the start.

“The relief is open to all businesses that develop new or improved products and processes, and it applies just as readily to the manufacturing and construction sectors as it does to IT or pharmaceuticals.

“It’s vital that local businesses find out whether they may be eligible for this very generous relief, or they could be missing out on all kinds of opportunities.”