Just doing my job! R&D tax credits don’t apply to me.
This is a common statement we hear all the time from company owners when we open up a conversation about R&D. Most haven’t heard about the tax relief in the first place, some don’t understand what it stands for and how it can even apply to their trade.
For others who are intrigued by claims of others in their sector about the substantial amounts of money paid back from HMRC either think there is some kind of ‘catch’ or they breach the topic with their accountant to be told it doesn’t apply.
So, how do we tackle this?
To be made aware of companies missing out on potentially tens of thousands of pounds in business tax relief in the form of a cash lump sum or a deduction from their tax bill is frustrating. Especially, when so many businesses could use the extra money to scale up and grow. The Covid-19 crisis has hit many businesses hard and this money is more important than ever. The average claim in the UK is approx. £50,000!
Let’s be honest, tax is boring, people are put off by potentially laborious and time consuming processes and until they know the potential of their claim they can often just assume its’ pennys’ and not worth all the stress.
Blue Garnet Ltd was set up to break down the barriers and reassure specific sectors that we don’t do technical jargon. We try to stay away from the blogs full of stats and percentages and over complicated explanations. We use our skills as qualified business advisors to understand your business and make the process as simple as possible.
Why do we care?
Because, it makes a difference! A huge difference. We stand firm to our beliefs that it’s the SMEs that get overlooked for support and it can be overwhelming looking for information and support in the business community.
It’s often the trades like construction, electrical, fabrication, architects, manufacturing that steer clear of networking events. As a result, they don’t meet other business people who may be able to connect them with the experts in tax relief, they don’t hear the guest speakers at events tackling the subject of success stories and they don’t receive the newsletters or
LinkedIn posts from the local Chamber of Commerce or the FSB advising on benefits that are available to businesses.
The bottom line
Blue Garnet acts as a broker. Our time and advice is free. Us being involved doesn’t mean your claim gets reduced further by fees. Once we have established there is potential we will connect you with the tax specialists. They are brilliant at what they do, even when you might have got involved in complex projects they have the expertise to ask the right questions to understand this further. They will only need a couple hours of your time, then they will liaise with your accountant for the financials. Their work is no win, no fee. They only take a fee on a successful claim. Which means you have nothing to lose.
In conclusion
You might just think ‘you’re just doing your job’ but in most cases you are solving problems, you are improving existing systems, designing, creating, innovating to ensure the project meets the requirements. You may even need to engage the support of other technical experts or subcontractors to deliver the results. If you overcome obstacles and problems and head scratching moments then you will most likely qualify for R&D. It’s worth the conversation with the experts and you might be more than pleasantly surprised by how much your business can claim for, even against failed projects or loss making businesses.
For more info contact Blue Garnet Ltd for a friendly chat.
