How your SME can claim tax credits for research & development

1. How your SME can claim tax credits for research & development Are you an innovative company looking for tax relief? AREANDE can help you claim under a 2000 government tax credit scheme With most businesses only just beginning to feel the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, the funding landscape is looking increasingly uncertain. This is especially true for SME companies, which often don’t have huge reserves of capital to fall back on when income is disrupted. So how can you ensure that your business survives – and thrives – when the economic outlook is bleak? If you’re the owner or chief financial officer of an SME, you might be wondering how you can find alternative sources of funding in a difficult financial moment. Perhaps more importantly, you want to continue the vital research & development (R&D) work that goes into creating your unique offering. It’s true that funding can be hard to come by in the kind of circumstances we find ourselves in right now. Luckily, the UK has a little-known innovation sme R&D tax credits scheme and it’s open to all sectors. In short, the innovation tax credit relief scheme allows you to claim for any form of R&D that is focussed on improving performance. For example, if you’re in Agriculture, you could claim for tweaking machinery or researching crop yields. If you’re in architecture, discovering new means of energy efficiency could net you a juicy tax credit. The list goes on. But research indicates that less than 1% of UK businesses claim this innovation tax credit. Given that the average payout, per MPA – is around £54,000 (a tax credit amount that would make a huge difference to any SME), that’s an awful lot of additional funding going to waste. That’s without mentioning the further research that reckons many companies that do claim are claiming too little. The SME sector is the backbone of the UK economy and, indeed, the backbone of any economy. As of February 2020, companies falling into the SME classification made up 99.9% of all UK businesses. That’s a staggering number, and it shows why it’s so important that SMEs are aware of – and claim – all the funding available to them. The market is tough enough as it is, so why would you miss out on extra tax credits that could help fund R&D and accelerate growth? The innovation tax credit relief scheme is not widely advertised, so the lack of awareness around it is understandable. However, it’s something that can really help get an SME through the tough times that

2. lie ahead, with the spectre of further lockdowns and economic recessions looming large. Alternatively, and on a more positive note, it could kickstart your R&D again and spur exponential growth. As mentioned above, it’s not just new tech gadgets or scientific formulas you can claim for (although those are covered). You can also claim R&D tax credits to cover: staffing & freelance costs, utilities, software development (such as workforce management or payroll systems), materials used in innovation, paying clinical trial volunteers & subcontractors, and creating new products. Claims are open to those in the agriculture, architecture, construction and engineering sectors, which typically have high operating costs and overheads but which provide so much impetus and innovation to society. AREANDE understands that SMEs are often working with small teams and high workloads and even if you do have awareness of these tax credits, you might not have the time to take advantage of them. Luckily, AREANDE exists for the purpose of making it easy for you to do that. sme R&D tax creditsclaims are usually manual and lengthy processes. You don’t want to be getting stuck in an arduous loop of form-filling when you could be innovating. Being innovators themselves, AREANDE takes this hassle away by using streamlining technology to make the process effortless and ensure you claim as much as possible. Their team is made of innovation & tax claim experts and is driven by the desire to help innovators flourish, whatever the market conditions. Using an innovation tax claim expert like ARENADE can save you untold hours, hours which you could be using to continue the vital R&D that makes your SME unique. Businesses looking to claim tax credits from the innovation tax relief scheme can find out more info on how to apply here: https://www.areande.com/make-a-claim/ Source:- https://uberant.com/article/917458-how-your-sme-can-claim-tax-credits-for-research- development/