Innovation has generally been recognised as essential for value creation, both for individual companies and for the UK economy as a whole. The development of new ideas, processes, and technologies and their flow across different sectors is a significant driver of economic growth and productivity. Recently, innovation has also been identified as crucial to the transition of the economy away from fossil fuels and carbon-intensive business activities. As accountants in Belfast, we support clients with tax advisory which include R&D tax credits.
There are many factors that affect whether and how businesses innovate, for example the availability of skills and capital and government policy measures such as tax incentives.
However, none are more important that the company’s own culture, capabilities and internal systems – all of which are aspects of its governance. Unless companies are governed in a way that is conducive to innovation, they are unlikely to be in a position to take advantage of new opportunities.
As accountants in Belfast, our most innovative clients share some key characteristics:
• They invest in activities with uncertain outcomes for which the likely commercial return is difficult to quantify and the risk of failure is higher than normal;
• They benefit from the availability of company-specific skills, which may be highly specialised;
• They have a culture which encourages flexibility, experimentation, and a high level of individual decision making; and
• They require a longer-term time investment horizon than many other kinds of business activity.
Important points we note as accountants in Belfast which worth considering as a business owner:
– The R&D expenditure credit has increased from 13% to 20%
– Cloud computing and employee time related to it e.g., computing, analysing, and processing of data are eligible costs for R&D.
Research and Development (R & D) is the process of taking an idea and transforming it into a fully-fledged product or procedure. R & D tax credits are a government incentive designed to encourage innovation across multiple industries. This is an opportunity for you to reduce your corporation tax bill or receive a refund from HMRC based upon the number of working hours and relevant costs your business dedicates to Research & Development. Under the scheme, SME’s can claim back up to 33% of the costs associated with R & D.
If you are looking for long term finance to support innovation then you will need to ensure your management accounts are up to date, you make available current detailed lists of debtors and creditors, and you might need up to date projections before an expert will consider your application.
There are several important changes that have occurred to the R&D process from 1st April 2023 which we can advise on. If you would like to know more about R&D or if you would be eligible to make a claim, feel free to contact us
Follow us on Linkedin for all the latest content, visit: RBCA | Belfast | LinkedIn
