Our R&D tax philosophy
R&D is at the heart of everything Stonebank Consulting does and we help clients put innovation at the centre of their businesses to ensure they are constantly one step ahead of the competition.
Uniquely placed as experts in primary research, literature surveys, product development, research strategy and tax, Stonebank has all the tools to help you identify niches, develop concepts, plan development roadmaps. Our experts have worked with world-leading physicists and multi-billion dollar conglomerates to enhance their research strategy, identify new materials, products and services, and then turn those into a scientific and commercial reality.
We are also experts in the UK’s R&D tax incentives scheme, meaning that we can help you offset the cost of development through R&D tax claims. As HMRC continues to make changes to the scheme, including ramping up compliance activity, it is becoming more important to take a pro-active approach to claiming and consult experienced tax practitioners before submitting a claim.
The R&D incentives regime is a government programme directed at rewarding UK companies undertaking challenging technical projects. The definition of what is and is not R&D is specific and carefully worded in the relevant Guidance, but is also much broader than most people expect. As a result, it’s important to establish a deep and thorough understanding of the Guidance and the Legislation in order to make sure that you claim your company’s full entitlement, and that you only claim qualifying projects.
Qualifying projects don’t need to be world-firsts or completely new to the industry. In fact, is no requirement under the Guidance that a solution is even “innovative” (though this does often help). The key is whether the project faces technical challenges (referred to as technological uncertainty in the Guidance) and a solution was not trivial to work out (it could not be readily deduced) by competent professional working in the field.
As a result, wherever there are challenges requiring experimentation or a detailed design process, there may well be qualifying work. Even when all the parts of a system are well known, how to bring those together in the best way to achieve your aims is often a technical challenge and often qualifies as R&D.
Building on their technical backgrounds, our specialists apply their R&D tax knowledge to take an objective and exhaustive approach while streamlining the process for you and your team, so your R&D professionals can get on with the next challenge. We’ll also provide a completely transparent service, keeping you informed throughout the claim process and helping to manage and mitigate any risk areas to develop a robust and defensible claim.
