What are the actual differences you can expect?
When you’re looking at making an R&D tax credit claim, however you choose to do it, it will likely result in a successful claim. So we think the key things you should ask yourself instead are:
1. Who is going to be better at maximising my claim?
2. How much of my time will it take up?
3. Who will give me the best service?
It’s no new headline that specialists generally do a better job at the first. The most competent and experienced of accountants have knowledge about an extensive list of tax services and will most likely file a successful claim. This can be your own company’s accountant or an independent accounting company. The main difference between them and a specialist is that, due to operating in such a niche area of tax, specialists will hold more specific knowledge and skills required to maximise your returns.
You ideally want the maximum return on the money you’ve spent on your R&D activities, and if that’s a lot, you’re better off going with a specialist. If this is a less significant amount for you, your accountant will likely still get you a return. But be careful, as there could be expenses your accountant might not know qualifies which could end up in a substantial amount of money lost.
Time is important. In a perfect world you would want a cheque to show up on your desk without even having to think about it. Who you decide to go with will determine how many hours or days or even weeks you will have to spend looking into filing the claim. So the question here is how much time do you have to spare?
If you’re after simple advice, and you would like to do it pretty much yourself or with your in-house accountant, chances are you won’t require a full service. What’s good about an end-to-end service offered by some R&D specialists is that you can get a lot more out of it: access to an in-depth and up-to-date understanding of how R&D tax credits work, advice on how future spending can be enhanced to give you better returns for future claims and generally a peace of mind that the matter is dealt with by professionals in the field who have good relationships with HMRC.
What’s different about our specialists at Novus Tax is our curious investigative nature to identify expenses others miss, either costs that are buried and hidden deep in your accounting books or looking at your work in a new light to articulate the R&D nature of your activities. We call our service bespoke because it’s personal to your needs. And we like to explain to our clients everything we know about identifying expenses so that when you go ahead with your future R&D activities, you can spend your money in areas you know you will get back, maximising your future cost efficiency.
Interested in seeing the difference for yourself? Get in touch to speak to a specialist at info@novustax.co.uk
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