Marketing from consultancy firm Catax estimated a few years ago that £84billion of R&D tax relief remains unclaimed. This is a ridiculous statement and one that Catax were called out on in a recent House of Lords sub-committee meeting.
Two other firms were recently named in the Times newspaper for stating that bars and restaurants are categorically eligible for R&D tax relief (Sedulo) and for publishing a case study of a pub claiming almost £30,000 for changes to items on its menu (Radish).
It is marketing like this which has driven the R&D tax relief industry to the state that it is in today, where hundreds of ineligible/overinflated claims are being submitted.
Earlier this year, HMRC sent out 1600 letters to companies asking them to provide further information to support their claim should they wish to proceed. 80% of these letters went unanswered – that’s potentially 1280 claimants without the confidence to support their claim, most of which were prepared by the company’s accountant/advisor.
It is very difficult for a company to compile a robust R&D claim as the rules are difficult to understand but it can be just as tricky finding a competent advisor to ask for help. As a start, we suggest avoiding any companies who use the following statements:
Accountants submitting R&D claims that may have been prepared by an unknown R&D advisor can also look out for some red flags including:
Even knowing all this, it can still be difficult to discern a ‘good’ advisor/claim from a ‘bad’ one. If you have any concerns, please feel free to speak to us and we will be happy to talk these through with you.
BBC Report: “HMRC gave me £49,000 relief, but wants it back” - Mar 14, 2024 |
|
What does the Autumn Statement mean for R&D tax relief? - Dec 01, 2023 |
|
- Nov 20, 2023 | |
The difficult 3rd HMRC “Pre-decision” letter - Aug 16, 2023 |
|
The dreaded 2nd HMRC enquiry letter – a guide for companies who didn’t use an R&D advisor - Aug 14, 2023 |
|
How to deal with an enquiry into your R&D claim when you didn’t use an advisor - Aug 10, 2023 |
|