What is R&D Tax Credit?

Introduced by the UK Government in 2000, the R&D tax relief scheme is designed to encourage innovation and global competitiveness by allowing companies to reclaim some of the money invested in qualifying research and development. SMEs can recover up to 18% of all eligible R&D expenditure. Under the RDEC scheme, Large companies/ organisations can benefit from a before-tax benefit of up to 20% of the qualifying R&D expenditure. Many UK organisations miss the opportunity to reap the potential rewards offered by HMRC’s R&D Tax Credit scheme.

The HMRC R&D Tax Credits guidance notes are set out in HMRC’s Corporate Intangibles Research and Development Manual which is constantly being updated. It is important to ensure that all conditions of the relevant relief are satisfied before submitting a claim. Our team of experienced R&D specialists are able to provide additional guidance on your claim.

A brewing company that brews beer & operates some pubs on the south coast of England. The claim processed by the expert Datafox team relates to challenges to meet two independent issues regarding regulatory compliance: in the first instance, the brewer was required to invent a custom solution to the discharge of effluent into the sewer system after an issue was raised by the local water company. In the second instance, the brewer was required to design & install a bespoke extraction & air filtration system into the kitchens of one of their pubs. To meet the former requirement, a number of off-the-shelf solutions were tried but found to be wanting. In the end, the brewer had to make modifications to an Oil Tank system to allow capacity for effluent to be held during periods of excessive flow so that filtration systems could cope. To meet the air filtration requirement, the brewer had to work closely with subcontractors to design a system that would fit into an old building, and that would satisfy local authority & DEFRA regulations.

A successful claim was made with the brewer receiving a substantial cash back payment from HMRC with eight weeks.