Wolverhampton accountant helps firms claim £10m

Mark, a qualified chartered accountant for 28 years, specialises in R&D tax relief, has a 100 per cent success rate and over the last four years has helped SMEs claim back over £10 million in R&D tax, with an average claim per company of £90,000.

"As UK output increases and the manufacturing sector continues to show signs of growth, SME manufacturers are now well-placed to embrace Government-led financial incentives.

"These include R&D tax credit breaks and a new scheme, The Patent Box, launched by the Government on April 1.

"The R&D tax credit scheme offers SMEs investing in R&D the opportunity to claim back extra corporation tax relief on every pound the business spends in developing new products or introducing new and improved processes.

"The enhancement of R&D expenditure stands at 125 per cent.

"Many business owners are unaware of the R&D reclaim scheme. Sometimes, a company's accountants are wary of the scheme or believe that the reclaim process is time consuming and therefore costly.

"Outsourcing this to a professional R&D tax credit specialist makes sound economic sense and the specialist should be happy to work with the company's existing accountants.

"Why? Because every year, over £5 billion of potential tax relief sits unclaimed by UK companies. Around 150,000 eligible SMEs could benefit from the scheme but less than 10,000 claim. That means over 93 per cent are missing out because they're not aware that they qualify.

"Manufacturing can encompass engineering, electronics and communication systems, and the scheme also applies to the exploration of new products or niche markets.

"Firstly, make sure your R&D tax specialist works on a no win, no fee basis. They should undertake all of the time-consuming investigative work and should be able to present HMRC with a fully researched, documented and watertight case.

"HMRC are fully supportive of the scheme and as long as the tax specialist has done the groundwork, money will be refunded very quickly. A company can then continue to claim annual reductions on future corporation tax bills."