Are You Proactive or Reactive With Your Clients Regarding R&D Tax Credits?

For all small and medium sized accounting firms, how confident are you that your clients and/or the R&D tax credit providers you are working with are claiming all eligible projects, activities, and costs?  Given the new legislation rules, fraudulent claims that HMRC have either stopped or issued penalties to, are you sure you have a “bullet-proof” claim methodology?  RDP Associates does, as we provide R&D tax credit services worldwide through R&D programmes that are mature in comparison. This is why our firm alliances and their clients know we can offer advice on eligibility now and also prepare them for future claim submissions We Mentioned History Repeating Itself in 2019, HMRC Are Now Requiring a New R&D Tax Credit Submission Form – RDP Associates)

From our experience, many clients of accounting firms prefer not to determine what is eligible to claim.  In other cases, where eligibility is being determined jointly or by the client, irreparable damage can result if the claim is not maximised.

As all government sponsored programmes evolve, such as R&D tax credits, the eligibility criteria continue to tighten up. We therefore recommend that you get ahead of this now. A few examples of being reactive to claiming R&D tax credits can be found here (Is HMRC Getting Tougher on R&D Tax Credit Claims? – RDP Associates). 

There are over 80,000 businesses in the UK that claim R&D tax credits annually and many of those claimants tend to be hesitant to maximise R&D claims since HMRC continues to update its requirements and processes. For example, have you guided your clients on Director’s remuneration R&D Tax Relief – Rethinking the Remuneration Strategy | RDP Associates?

An HMRC query on one claim may cause a ripple effect where HMRC may elect to review a prior year’s claim, as they have 365 days to do so from the previous filing date and, in certain cases, may surpass this deadline.  Being proactive about the R&D tax credit programme is the key to reducing the likelihood of HMRC enquires. The last thing any firm or client wants is an enquiry that last months if not years and may stop your client claiming in subsequent accounting periods. This is where you will find value in the RDP Alliance Programme, given that we provide these regularly updated services to ensure your clients are claiming the proper way.

Why Work with RDP and How We Are Different?

While most if not all R&D tax credit service providers promote technical capabilities and being “the best”, we differentiate ourselves in 2 ways: i) we have been involved since the inception of the R&D tax credit programme; where it is today and where it is likely to be in the future because we have already seen similar changes to the programmes in 5 other countries where we provide these same services and, ii) we abide by the Innovation Connection Programme (ICP).  The ICP is a system we designed to facilitate R&D claims in real-time rather than commencing the process at the end of the accounting period. 

Contact us so that we may share some of our success stories with you and also provide information on the ICP.