As a chartered accountant some would suggest my working life is rather dull (I would disagree of course – helping companies with R&D credits is genuinely fascinating).
Recent events have made me reflect on the serious nature of our work as professionals and the importance of ethics and high quality standards.
We often hear anecdotally about bad behaviour within the profession and, for years, the steps being taken to curb this have felt too slow and insignificant. But the reality of seeing 21 years of prison time issued to 3 fraudsters in November and then 6 further arrests in December is a stark message that HMRC are now taking fraudulent claims very seriously.
And so whilst I agree with lots of recent articles and comments about R&D boutiques bringing the UK regime into disrepute, I wanted to balance this with what I’m seeing which paints quite a different picture.
Please don’t let a disreputable agent (or client) persuade you to do the wrong thing – you will regret it later. Let’s all do the right thing and use the relief as intended.
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