A Government consultation opened recently regarding qualifying R&D costs, with representations invited between now and 13th October 2020. We will be making a representation that will ask for software licence costs to be extended to include hosting costs, so that companies do not have to spend time differentiating between the two.  Other questions include whether costs for use of data/data sets in development activities should qualify, whether changes to qualifying costs will drive additional R&D investment and whether any

The Government published its R&D Roadmap on 1 July, setting out its vision to attract global talent, cut unnecessary bureaucracy and cement the UK as a world-leading science superpower. My take on this is that whilst lots of investment will be via targeted grants there will be more good news to come for R&D tax reliefs.  Watch this space. The positives Whilst this is very much the start of the journey (and some may say just words), a few positives

Whilst Covid-19 grants and loans are vital for some businesses, do make sure a loan now does not mean you are prevented from making an SME R&D claim later on.  In summary Deferred liabilities during the Covid period such as VAT and ITSA payments on account will not impact repayments of RDEC or tax credit. Comparably, tax deferred under time to pay (TTP) arrangements would be offset against repayable RDEC or tax credits, reducing the repayment received. There are a

In these strange and uncertain times, cashflow is king. Helpfully, HMRC appreciates this and has provided a few helpful confirmations: The processing of claims is being prioritised – R&D tax credit and RDEC claims are currently being processed within 28 days of receipt (a few exceptions were noted that should be rectified by 20 April) HMRC will be sympathetic to late claims under the usual (SP5/01) process (but do still file asap) A few points of caution to note too:

There was a lot to take in from yesterday’s budget and the devil is always in the detail….in the form of the Budget Report. Anyway, the R&D headlines distilled for you are:  As hoped, the rate of RDEC will increase from 12% to 13% from 1 April 2020 – good to see the UK competing globally when it comes to R&D regimes. The government will consult on whether expenditure on data and cloud computing should qualify for R&D tax credits

I read an interesting Accountancy Age article before Christmas about how two-thirds of accountants are set to outsource services to remain competitive. Ignoring the author’s potential bias, this still strikes me as quite a change for the market. I am an independent technical expert in my field and I have to say that collaborating with a Top-20 accountancy firm to deliver excellence to their clients has worked really well for us all. The client gets reassurances and a joined-up service

Boris Johnson has proposed to increase the R&D Expenditure Credit (RDEC) for large companies from 12% to 13%. This is just one of many tax breaks to woo business and is a welcome and positive indicator that the UK would continue to attract and reward innovation. By comparison, Labour has proposed the phasing down and eventual abolition of R&D tax credits other than for SME firms younger than seven years old, and the phasing down and abolition of the patent