What information do you need to prepare for your R&D tax credit pre-qualification call?

We all have that feeling from time to time when it seems there aren’t enough hours in the day. Modern-day business owners and entrepreneurs are working longer than ever before, with over 49% working over 50 hours per week. Mission-critical tasks start to take priority, and other, seemingly less-important tasks are pushed onto the back burner.

R&D tax relief claims are often seen as one of these lowly-prioritised tasks for many reasons; you’re unsure if you’re eligible, you have no idea how long it will take to claim, if your claim will be successful, and how much of your precious time will be taken up to submit the claim in the first place.

It needn’t be this way. From the first pre-qualification call that we have designed to take only 15 minutes of your time, we will tell you if you are eligible to claim R&D tax relief.

Is my business eligible for R&D tax relief?

The eligibility criteria for HMRC’s R&D tax credits scheme is deliberately broad, including any registered Limited company that is subject to corporation tax. You must also have spent money (or are planning to spend money) on eligible R&D activity.

We have covered information about this on our R&D tax credits eligibility page, though as all businesses are different, the quickest and easiest way to determine your specific eligibility is to chat with our expert team on a pre-qualification phone call.

While you’re there, it’s also useful to understand the true definition of R&D for the purposes of reclaiming tax credits, something we have covered in another blog.

What information do I need to have prepared for a pre-qualification chat?

Firstly, don’t worry about the call. It is not imperative that you have every tiny bit of detail about your R&D activities on-hand for this call. Think of it as a more casual conversation about your business activities, R&D projects, and any outcomes you’ve observed or hope to achieve.

Things like:

• A summary of your R&D project
• What problem were you or are you aiming to solve?
• What have you spent or are you planning to spend cash on?
• What support have you had to do it?
• What results have you observed/do you hope to observe?

If possible, it would be good to discuss:

• Previous years’ accounts, including expenditure

On the call, our team will also ask you to start compiling all receipts and invoices relating to the R&D expenditure you wish to claim so they are available for our accounts teams when they are reviewing and composing your claim.

More information is always better as it helps us to properly appraise your R&D activity and the likelihood of your claim being accepted by HMRC.

And there we have it, nothing to worry about. Our team are here to help at every stage of the reclamation process, so if you need help laying your hands on something or need a bit more time, we’ll happily accommodate it and take as much of the heavy lifting off your shoulders as possible.

#worksmarternotharder