Author: Vicky Newham

Fabrication Company

This fabrication company had been creating bespoke steel products for a number of years. On further investigation we discovered that many of these bespoke products used features or processes which were costly in terms of time. These additional cost were not charged to the end customers but were absorbed by the company as they could use their findings to create future products.  This qualified as Research and Development for tax purposes.

What we did

We worked with the director to look at all projects over the previous 2 years and the staff time and therefore cost incurred relating to R & D.  This process took about 6-8 weeks and then we were in a position to present the findings to HMRC.

What was the outcome?

Client received a tax credit of just over £60,000.

What did the client say?

“ I had no idea at all that I could claim this money, and I must admit I was a bit suspicious that HMRC would just give money like that “

Food Manufacturer

When this company started to work with us they hadn’t heard of R & D Tax credits, their previous accountant probably hadn’t either.

The company was and still is very innovative in terms of developing new recipes and ideas. Each time a recipe is made there is a degree of trial and error, this involves waste ingredients and a lot of staff time.  The company was always keen to develop new ideas but this cost of doing so was proving risky.  However when they discovered that HMRC would give them some money for this risk taking this enabled them to try a lot of new ideas and bid for new large contracts with high profile clients.

What we did

We worked with the business owner to understand exactly what could qualify as R and D and to write a report for HMRC.  We then gathered all of the necessary data from their accounting systems.  This was all then sent to HMRC.  The company continue to innovate and so this will now form part of the standard year-end process

What was the outcome?

Year 1:  Cash paid to the company of £24,593

Year 2  : Pending claim of £28,000

What did the client say

“ I am so pleased that Solutions advised me about R & D tax credits it has meant that I can continue to innovate and grow without having to worry so much about the financial implications”

Events Company

We were introduced to this business to help them with their accounting systems and processes. However, it soon came to light that this wasn’t a typical events company and in fact many of the services and products they offered at events were actually unique. The company had spent a lot of money on developing the services and products and it had taken a large percentage of staff time. We identified that there was in fact expenditure that could qualify for R&D tax credits.

What we did

We went through the clients accounting records in depth to identify any expenditure that would qualify for R&D tax credits. We worked closely with the company’s internal book-keeper so that they could provide the information that we required. We then wrote a comprehensive report to HMRC.

What was the outcome?

Client received cash of around £18,000 from HMRC and is currently working on many new projects which will also qualify for R&D tax credits.

What did the client say?

“Receiving the money from HMRC has been a real help to my business and will enable me to keep growing and move forward.”

The company are a manufacturer of packaging and had developed a way to seal the packaging which was new to the UK market.  They had invested a lot of time and money into developing the product and had made many samples to ensure everything worked how it should.

What we did

With this client there was some fairly obvious innovation and the client had also take financial risk to develop the product.  Our main role was to present this in a way to HMRC whereby all of the processes were explained in an easy to understand way, showing that there was innovation but also not using too much technical jargon.

What was the outcome?

Year 1:  Cash paid to the company of £8,000

Future Claims:  Likely to be £45,000 plus

What did the client say?

“ Solutions have been really helpful in getting our R & D tax credits claim, it really was totally painless”

Packaging Manufacturer

This company came to us for initial accounting support and had heard about R and D tax credits they were not sure if it would be relevant to them or not.

The company are a manufacturer of packaging and had developed a way to seal the packaging which was new to the UK market.  They had invested a lot of time and money into developing the product and had made many samples to ensure everything worked how it should.

What we did

With this client there was some fairly obvious innovation and the client had also take financial risk to develop the product.  Our main role was to present this in a way to HMRC whereby all of the processes were explained in an easy to understand way, showing that there was innovation but also not using too much technical jargon.

What was the outcome?

Year 1:  Cash paid to the company of £8,000

Future Claims:  Likely to be £45,000 plus

What did the client say?

“ Solutions have been really helpful in getting our R & D tax credits claim, it really was totally painless”