Latest HM Revenue & Customs figures reveal that a total of £52m tax relief was claimed in the North West under the UK R&D tax credit scheme in 2010-11.
The £52m is spread over 985 claims giving an average claim of £53,000 (interestingly, this compares with an average claim of just £19,000 in London!), although this includes large company claims which can be significant. However, even when claims by large companies are split out North West SME companies claimed an average of £32,000 in tax relief.
This is good news for local North West companies and the number of claims made was 3rd highest overall after the South East (1) and London (2).
Overall, out of the almost 5 million SMEs in the UK only 8,140 R&D tax claims were made in 2010-11 and less than 1% of UK SMEs have made a claim for enhanced R&D tax relief since its introduction in 2000. I find this statistic staggering.
What should you do now?
- If you haven’t already reviewed your company activities to determine whether you have a potential R&D tax credit claim you should do this asap – there is a timelimit for backdating claims.
- If you have made R&D claims, compare your claims with the averages noted above and if your claim was for less than £32,000 consider whether it is worth getting a second opinion – you can amend claims if they are still within the two year timelimit.
