R&D Tax Relief Accountancy Services

R&D Tax Reliefs
Patent Box Tax Relief
Innovation Grants

It takes a certain expertise to manage the claims process properly and I doubt whether there are many in this area who genuinely do it as well as Shorts.
Stuart Murphy - Rollem Patent Products

Our unique Radius service is designed to ensure that businesses claim their full entitlement to Government-backed tax reliefs for innovation. We have a 100% success record with applications submitted – a testament to our unrivalled expertise, which has saved our clients millions of pounds in tax.

Do you pay technical staff to solve technical problems, perhaps developing new or improved processes, products or software? If so, we are experts in helping you claim R&D Tax credits from HMRC which give tax savings for innovating. The savings are significant – usually equivalent to around a quarter of the amount you’ve actually spent.

Tax savings may also be available for Research and Development allowances where you’ve paid for research facilities or equipment or Patent Box tax relief where you make profits derived from patents. We can even help you apply for Innovation Grants.

As Radius is part of Shorts, a long-established and highly respected accountancy firm, you can be sure that all aspects of accounting for your innovation relief will be fully addressed. Plus the firm has 14 Chartered Tax Advisers, more than any other local independent accountancy firms, which means that you can be sure we will optimise the tax benefits of the available relief.

For more information, visit our resource library and access our range of downloadable R&D and Patent Box Tax Relief guides and leaflets.

R&D Tax Relief, Patent Box Tax Relief & Innovation Grants

Research and Development (R&D) Tax Relief provides companies with the opportunity to claim generous tax savings for their innovative activities. The opportunities for making a claim are often overlooked however, with business owners overestimating the level of innovation required to claim. Projects qualifying for R&D relief include those seeking an appreciable improvement in science or technology.

So, if you are paying people to solve technical problems there may be scope to claim if you are:

Modifying a manufacturing process
Developing bespoke software
Creating a new product or improving an existing one

Eligible companies can obtain tax relief on qualifying expenditure either by reducing taxable profits or creating (or increasing) tax losses which can be sacrificed to HMRC in return for a cash repayment.

The relief available is very generous and an SME incurring £100k of qualifying costs could save in the region of £25k in tax. Claims can go back two financial years, so first-time claimants can particularly benefit.

Our Radius team make the claims process simple. Our approach focusses on quickly and concisely assessing your potential eligibility before completing the process on your behalf. We employ an ex-HMRC Inspector to ensure that all claims are fully compliant before submission. This process is highly successful and has saved our clients millions of pounds in tax savings across a wide spectrum of industries. We are members of HMRC’s Consultative Committee, so are fully up to speed on the issues commonly raised by HMRC – none of the thousands of claims that our R&D team have submitted have been rejected by HMRC.

Our expert team can also help clients determine whether to apply for HMRC’s Advance Assurance program as well as offer advice outside the R&D claim process – for example, help to devise systems to record R&D costs, structuring sub-contract agreements and, working with our Corporate Finance team, ensuring that any innovation tax reliefs are accurately reflected in business cases.

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Whilst the Government wants to support innovative companies through the process of claiming R&D tax reliefs, part of HMRC’s role is to ensure this relief isn’t taken advantage of. HMRC have at least twelve months from the date an R&D claim is submitted to open an enquiry and whilst the government has set a 28-day target for R&D claims to be processed and often repayments issued within this timescale, companies can face a very unpleasant surprise when, many months later, a letter arrives from HMRC raising queries into the claim they have submitted. Even if an enquiry is successfully defended, dealing with the queries can be worrying and exceptionally time-consuming.

Protect against enquiry
By far the best way to deal with a potential enquiry is to ensure that a robust claim (including a technical report covering the R&D activity) is prepared and submitted to HMRC that answers any potential queries in advance. All the claims we submit are reviewed in advance by Darryl Hoy, an ex-HMRC R&D Inspector with many years’ experience reviewing thousands of claims and having conducted hundreds of R&D enquiries for HMRC.

Thanks to our robust processes and approach to making claims for our clients here at Shorts’ Radius, in the last five years’ none of our claims have been subject to enquiry by HMRC

When businesses do find themselves subject to scrutiny from HMRC for claims they have previously submitted, either by themselves or with another external provider, we offer two key services in relation to enquiry support:

1 Claim Review (No Enquiry)
If you haven’t had an enquiry but have any uncertainties over any aspect of your claim, or you would appreciate the peace of mind which comes from having your claim reviewed by an ex-Inspector, we offer a no-obligation review service to identify any potential issues.

2 Enquiry Management Service
For companies who have used their accountant, done it themselves or used other R&D providers to submit their claims, which have then been enquired into by HMRC, we offer a full enquiry management service. There are numerous reasons why HMRC might open an R&D enquiry but Radius can confidently and efficiently guide you through each stage of the process.

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Tax savings for capital expenditure relating to Research and Development (R&D) activity

Research and Development Allowances (RDA)

Tax relief is available for capital expenditure incurred for R&D purposes through RDAs.

This often overlooked, yet valuable relief provides 100% tax relief in the year of acquisition for capital expenditure incurred for the provision of R&D facilities or expenditure on capital assets used by employees carrying out R&D.

We would advise any company or sole trader engaged in qualifying R&D activities to consider RDAs to ensure they are not missing out on this relief.

RDAs: Interaction with Capital Allowances

Ordinarily, when a company purchases a capital asset, relief is generally available for qualifying assets in two ways.

Firstly, the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) which provides a 100% deduction on qualifying expenditure in the year in which an asset is purchased. AIA is capped at £200,000 per annum.

If the AIA limit is exceeded, or the asset purchased does not qualify for AIA, the balance is subject to a writing down allowance of 18% or 8% per annum depending on the nature of the asset. Certain non-qualifying assets are not eligible for relief at all.

RDAs, however, work similar way to AIA but instead the relief is uncapped. This means that if significant capital expenditure is incurred in a year, relief for their cost will be available earlier than it would usually.

Example RDAs project

To illustrate, a company which is involved in R&D decides to construct a new £500,000 property on land (which it already owns) to be used solely for the purposes of developing their products.

Under normal rules, AIA or writing down allowances would not be available on the bulk of the construction costs of the property. But with RDAs, as the property is solely used for the purposes of R&D, all of the £500,000 cost would be qualifying expenditure, meaning the company could claim a £500,000 deduction in their corporation tax computation. This would create a tax saving of £95,000 [almost £100,000] not available through Capital Allowances.

(If the factory constructed was used for mixed purposes, for example, half used for R&D and the other half used for non-qualifying R&D activities, an adjustment would have to be made to reflect the qualifying area of the property.)

Which costs can qualify for RDAs

As the above example illustrates, RDAs are not restricted to ‘qualifying assets’. Instead, relief is available on all capital costs associated with the undertaking of qualifying R&D projects with the only exclusion being land. This means that the cost of acquiring, constructing or extending existing premises could qualify for RDAs

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Patent Box Tax Relief rewards UK companies that are driving innovation and developing new patented inventions. If your company is generating income from patented products or processes you could be eligible for a lower effective corporation tax rate of 10% on profits derived from those patents. This is nearly half the normal tax rate.

To benefit from the valuable relief, several specific conditions must be met:

The company must hold a qualifying patent, or exclusive licence to utilise a qualifying patent.
The company must have been involved in the development of the patent.
Relief may be restricted if the company has not undertaken all the R&D for the patent.

If your company has a patent pending, you could still benefit from the relief by making a provisional claim, with the benefits accruing whilst the patent is pending. Once the patent is granted, the tax benefit is activated.

Whilst a simple concept, Patent Box Tax Relief involves some quite complex calculations. Our Radius team includes Patent Box experts who have specialised in these rules since their introduction in 2013, submitting some of the first claims to be made under the regime and saving clients many thousands of pounds in Corporation Tax. Shorts’ Radius team can lead you through the process easily, quickly determining your eligibility to claim and putting together the relevant calculations.

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There are currently a range of innovation grants available to businesses which are seeking to:

Develop new or improved innovative products or software systems
Venture into new commercial areas
Invest in new premises or machinery or
Create new jobs

Although these grants can be hugely beneficial to an innovative business, it can often be challenging and time-consuming to access them successfully.

The grant specialists within Shorts’ Radius team can support you throughout the grant funding journey, working with your business to identify suitable grant opportunities and putting together a robust application that will tick all the boxes for an application.

Partnering with a specialist can help improve your business’s chances of successfully obtaining available funding whilst reducing the burden on you.

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Our Simple 3 Stage Approach

Our unique Radius approach ensures our specialists focus on quickly and concisely assessing a company’s eligibility to claim Research and Development tax reliefs.

They will then ensure that your claim is completed as painlessly as possible, is compliant (we have a 100% success rate) and is maximised. So, if you are paying technical people to solve technical problems, Shorts’ Radius team are the specialists you need to talk to.

1. Initial Discussion

30-60 minutes, either in person or over the phone to explore whether a claim is possible.

2. Technical Meeting

We meet with you to identify qualifying projects and costs to include in the claim.

3. Produce Claim Documents

We work with you to maximise the claim within the scope of the legislation. We produce the technical report and a summary of qualifying costs that is required to support a claim.

You review it and when you’re happy, we’ll submit the whole claim to HMRC for you.

You'll then receive your tax savings from HMRC - up to a quarter of the amount you've actually spent on innovating.

Arrange your telephone consultation with Radius

Book your telephone consultation with a member of our Radius team, at a time convenient to you. Discussions will include whether your eligibility and the potential outcome of making a claim.

Experience

Radius in numbers

Our success rate
How innovation pays
Tax savings for clients
The depth of our experience

We have a 100% track record in submitting successful claims for our clients.

25%

Tax savings normally equivalent to a quarter of what you've spent on innovation.

£0m

Our Radius team have saved clients £13m in R&D tax relief claims in the last five years.

The number of years combined R&D experience within our Radius team.

An integral part of the region’s innovation ecosystem.

We are passionate about ensuring we do our bit to boost local prosperity and making sure that companies claim their full entitlement to the generous tax reliefs available for innovation. Which is why we partner with the following;

Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, R&D tax relief partner
East Midlands Chamber of Commerce, R&D tax relief partner
Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber of Commerce, R&D tax relief partner
Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, R&D tax relief partner
Sheffield Digital, R&D tax relief partner
Manufacturing Forum, Sponsor

Our Radius Specialists

Scott Burkinshaw

Tom Whitworth

Darryl Hoy

Senior Manager - Radius

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Caroline Hawkins

Senior Manager - Radius

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Abdul Kaleel

Manager - Business Taxes and Radius

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Emily Hurdley

Adviser - Business Taxes and Radius

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See our full team

Working with our clients

Recent success stories

Client Case Study
Rollem Patent Products
"R&D tax claims take a certain expertise - I doubt whether there is very many in this area who genuinely do it as well as Shorts do. "
Read more
Client Case Study
Penny Hydraulics
"The R&D allowances and capital allowances work we did in the last financial year with Shorts accountants saved the company a six-figure sum in corporation tax that we had to pay."
Read more
Client Case Study
Abbeydale Brewery
"Shorts looked at what we were doing and submitted quite a significant claim for the previous 3 years. They did all the work for us; just asked questions and it went through instantly. From starting the process we had the money in our account within five weeks, seriously improving our cash flow."
Read more

WHAT OUR TAX CLIENTS SAY ABOUT US

Testimonials

It takes a certain expertise to manage the R&D claims process properly and I doubt whether there are many in this area who genuinely do it as well as Shorts.
Stuart Murphy, Managing Director
Rollem Patent Products Ltd

Shorts came in, looked at what we were doing and submitted quite a significant claim for the previous three years. They did all the work for us; just asked questions and it went through instantly. From starting the process with Shorts, we had the money in our account within five weeks.
Tony Grattidge
Abbeydale Brewery Ltd

What an excellent report – very impressed!
Keith Newsome, Finance Director
Long Rake Spar Limited

R&D claims are a big thing in design and build companies, making a massive difference to your bottom line if you make the most of the design work that you’ve put in. The R&D and capital allowances work we did in the last financial year with Shorts saved a six-figure sum in corporation tax.
Ashley Holmes - Finance Director
Penny Hydraulics Ltd

Shorts contribute many ideas to help our business, making sure that we utilise relevant funding that is available and successfully leading us through the R&D tax credit claims procedure.
Peter Watmore
Thermotex Ltd

Shorts have continued to help us compile and submit R&D claims which have generated significant tax savings for us. Their helpful, experienced and professional approach makes the claim process extremely straightforward and trouble-free allowing us to concentrate on our own business activities.
Martin and Melanie Southwell - Directors
Direct Track Solutions Ltd

For several years, Shorts’ Radius team have worked closely with our business to obtain considerable tax benefits through R&D tax reliefs for our industry leading development work. Their team of experts have always made the process of claiming as straightforward as possible and the figures we have received as a result of our claims have been hugely beneficial. I cannot recommend them highly enough
Steve Roberts, Director
Fripp Design Limited

I would recommend anyone seeking to claim R&D tax reliefs to speak to Shorts' Radius team. Their experienced staff made the process understandable and straightforward. We were rewarded with a significant claim – Many thanks to the R&D group at Shorts!
Angela Foster, Director
AD Tyres (Wholesale) Ltd

During a particularity innovative time for Mercuryavs Ltd, our attention was brought to the R&D specialists Shorts, who by using their knowledge and experience, helped us through the process of what became a seamless and straightforward claim for the business. Due to the success of the initial claim processed through Shorts' Radius team a second claim has been processed, once again allowing the business to receive significant tax refunds which we have been able to reinvest in the future growth of the business.The help and knowledge of the staff at Shorts was second to none, and we would be only to delighted to recommend the services offered from Shorts' Radius team, and the time scales in which the claims were received to any prospective client. We are already planning next year’s R&D claim and I guarantee we will be once again using the services of Shorts' Radius team.
Tom Marvin, Commercial Director
Mercuryavs limited

The Radius team at Shorts brought R&D tax reliefs to our attention and, using their knowledge and experience, helped us through our first claim. We’re already preparing our next claim using them.
Mark Hughes, Director
Tutora Limited

The professional guidance provided by the team at Shorts made the claim process easy and painless. The R&D tax relief generated is valuable to any company that makes R&D a part of its everyday activities and shouldn’t be overlooked. I would recommend anyone seeking to claim R&D tax relief to speak to Shorts' Radius team first.
Steve Shipp, Managing Director
Ultra Refrigeration Ltd

The Radius team at Shorts brought the R&D tax relief to our attention. Their professional approach, knowledge and experience made the claim process straight-forward, which generated considerable tax savings for us.
John Yarnall, Managing Director
Neilson Hydraulics Limited

Shorts have been providing a variety of accountancy services and advice to Quality Health for many years and we’ve been delighted with their work. We were introduced to the Radius team at Shorts a few years ago and realised that we could be saving significant amounts of corporation tax by claiming R&D tax reliefs for our bespoke software development. Their expertise and helpful and professional approach made the process really easy for us. I’d highly recommend them to anybody else.
Daniel Ratchford, Chief Executive
Quality Health Ltd

Shorts’ Radius team have helped us submit claims which have generated significant tax savings for us, their helpful and professional approach makes the claim process easy. Our partnership has evolved due to their guidance, ensuring systems are in place that make the capturing of the evidence to substantiate our claim straight forward year on year. I would recommend anyone seeking to claim R&D tax relief to speak to Shorts' Radius team.
Roger Wells, Operations Director
Go Green Ltd

Shorts’ Radius team have helped us submit claims which have generated significant tax savings for us.
Philip Crowe, Finance Director
Transdek Ltd

Tele-Products engaged Scott to assist us in generating a retrospective R&D Tax credits claim. It was clear from the outset that Scott, and other members of his team, had great knowledge and extensive experience. Shorts’ team made compiling the claim very easy and we were successful – achieving a significant rebate from HMRC! We have re-engaged with Scott again to help us with the claim for our latest financial year.
Andy Gurnell, Managing Director
Tele-Products Ltd

Shorts' Radius team have consistently provided excellent advice to allow us to successfully claim R&D tax relief for a number of years. I have no hesitation in recommending Shorts to anyone considering similar claims.
Tim Walker, Finance Director
The Seat Design Company Ltd

Sheffield Precision Medical engaged the services of Shorts and their Radius team a few years ago. The process was much easier than excepted and the team at Shorts were on hand to walk us through our first claim. Their experience, knowledge and attention to detail resulted in significant tax savings for us. We have continued to work with the Radius team on a quarterly basis and we are engaging with Shorts to look at additional claims relating to the expansion of our manufacturing facility. For anyone looking to claim R & D Tax Credits I would recommend they engage the services of Shorts Radius team – we have been delighted with their services.
Sue Roberts, Operations Manager
Sheffield Precision Medical

Scott has provided very helpful tax advice to the company in the UK since it was established. In 2011, using his knowledge of the company’s operations, he made it his business to ensure that the company was aware of, and claiming its full entitlement to, Research and Development Tax reliefs offered by the UK government to innovative businesses such as ours. Using his expertise in this area, Scott has very professionally dealt with the claims process, leading a project to prepare and submit significant claims to HMRC, which have been accepted without query.
Simon Martin
WanDisco International

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