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Spring Budget 2023 – our initial response

Posted on Wednesday 15 March 2023 by GovGrant

What did the Chancellor announce in the Spring Budget today?

The R&D tax relief schemes were again mentioned by The Chancellor of Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt today, as a follow-up to announcements in the Autumn statement.

There are a lot of moving parts at the moment, see the technical detail note here. With a new relief for R&D intensive SMEs who will qualify for an enhanced rate of R&D tax relief, a delay to restrictions on overseas expenditure from 2023 to 2024, and the potential move to a single, combined RDEC and SME scheme in April 2024.

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Contingent fees – a positive sign that we’re aligned to our clients

Posted on Friday 25 November 2022 by Luke Hamm | Chief Executive Officer

In recent press coverage, I’ve noticed that some commentators have used the term “no win, no fee” as a derogatory indicator of poor practice. That it forms part of this “rotten” R&D market that encourages fraudulent and negligent behaviour from some R&D tax providers. I think that this is just lazy, and for me, is just as blunt as the cut to the SME scheme.
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Autumn Statement 2022 – our initial response

Posted on Thursday 17 November 2022 by Luke Hamm | Chief Executive Officer

What did the Chancellor announce in the Autumn Statement today?

The R&D tax relief schemes were specifically mentioned by The Chancellor of Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt today. In response to reports of abuse and fraud in the SME scheme, he has announced a cut in the enhancement rate to 86% (from 130%) and the tax credit rate to 10% (from 14.5%). For the RDEC scheme, the rate will increase from 13% to 20%.
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Firms cash in on questionable tax credits – our thoughts

Posted on Wednesday 2 November 2022 by Luke Hamm | Chief Executive Officer

You may have seen an article in The Times this weekend, titled ‘Free money from HMRC’: firms cash in on questionable tax credits. The article highlights that “The taxman has lost an estimated £469 million to fraud and error under a multibillion-pound scheme”. Last year the total amount claimed under the R&D tax relief schemes was £6.59bn.
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Are Scottish businesses still missing out when it comes to R&D tax relief and Patent Box?

Posted on Tuesday 9 August 2022 by Colin Barr

We know that businesses in Scotland have a proud tradition of innovation and invention but are Scottish businesses benefitting fully from HMRC’s innovation incentives? These schemes are designed to support businesses that seek to improve or overcome challenges or uncertainties in their products and processes.
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Legislation Day – HMRC’s draft changes to R&D tax relief schemes

Posted on Thursday 21 July 2022 by Clive Flood | Chief Operating Officer

Yesterday (Wednesday 20 July) was what HMRC refer to as Legislation Day, on which they publish the draft legislation changes that have now been submitted to parliament to receive Royal Assent and be passed into law. This is expected to take place over the Autumn which will then come into effect for full accounting periods starting on or after 1 April 2023.
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UK Digital Strategy – full on intent but lighter on new policy

Posted on Thursday 30 June 2022 by Luke Hamm | Chief Executive Officer

The UK Digital Strategy policy paper was published on 13 June 2022. It reconfirms the government’s intent to make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a technology business and it seeks to outline this vision and the actions required to deliver it.

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Get ahead with your R&D tax relief

Posted on Wednesday 22 June 2022 by GovGrant

Your R&D tax relief claim can’t be an afterthought

For too long, and for too many, R&D tax relief has been a tick box exercise of tax planning. However, HMRC has drawn a line in the sand when it comes to abuse of the R&D tax relief scheme. This change of tack is well overdue and should protect the integrity of the schemes.

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How to select the right R&D advisor for your business?

Posted on Wednesday 9 February 2022 by Luke Hamm | Chief Executive Officer

There are currently a lot of players in the exceptionally crowded space of R&D tax credits. As a consequence, there are probably a lot of conflicting messages. These range from “get hundreds of thousands of pounds in 30 minutes with zero risk” to “the wolf is at the door so proceed with serious caution”. As always the truth is somewhere between those two positions.
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Latest R&D tax relief scheme changes, as announced in the Autumn Budget 2021

Posted on Thursday 2 December 2021 by Luke Hamm | Chief Executive Officer

What was announced in the Autumn Budget 2021 concerning R&D tax credits?

Following on from that consultation reforms that were announced in the Autumn Budget 2021, the government:

  • support modern research methods by expanding qualifying expenditure to include data and cloud costs
  • more effectively capture the spillover benefits of R&D funded by the reliefs through refocusing support towards innovation in the UK
  • target abuse and improve compliance

Today we got more of the detail of these reforms and understood more of the next steps.
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HMRC’s statistics for R&D and Patent Box tax relief – GovGrant commentary

Posted on Friday 1 October 2021 by Luke Hamm | Chief Executive Officer

The latest statistics showing the value of R&D tax relief and Patent Box were published by HMRC yesterday. What does an initial look at this year’s numbers tell us?
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R&D tax credit calculator – What is it really telling you?

Posted on Thursday 19 November 2020 by Luke Hamm | Chief Executive Officer

We know that a lot of competitors have a “calculator” on their website or examples of R&D claims. We’ve never felt that this was necessary, not because it’s difficult or mysterious – but because it asks the wrong question and therefore gives you the wrong answer.
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Furlough and R&D tax credits: Can you claim relief?

Posted on Wednesday 16 September 2020 by Vanessa Cooper | Group Technical Tax Manager

We have had some clarification from HMRC on how companies furloughing staff deal with claims under the SME R&D tax relief or Research and Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC) schemes. It’s important to realise that the rules are different under each of these schemes. But also that small and medium enterprises can claim under the RDEC scheme.
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HMRC confirms the State Aid rules for each new Covid-19 loan scheme

Posted on Friday 29 May 2020 by Vanessa Cooper | Group Technical Tax Manager

GovGrant sits on the Research & Development Consultative Committee (RDCC) to represent UK’s business when it comes to the operational delivery of the R&D tax relief schemes. This is an HMRC-sponsored forum, and as members we receive regular updates as HMRC advice evolves and develops. We are currently in an unprecedented period of change, with the introduction of new and vital measures to support business British business.> Read more


R&D Tax Credits: doing nothing is not an option

Posted on Tuesday 15 October 2019 by Luke Hamm | Chief Executive Officer

In their latest podcast, Accountancy Age spoke to GovGrant’s CEO, Luke Hamm, about the need for the R&D tax credit programme to be kickstarted in the UK in order to drive much-needed innovation. In this entertaining podcast, we cover why the government must do more, how businesses of all sizes are missing out, the regional problem and why the big four need to take some of the blame for the issue.

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Medtech and biopharma can drive the UK growth agenda and more support should be given

Posted on Friday 3 May 2019 by Luke Hamm | Chief Executive Officer

The UK’s biopharma and medtech sector is a world class sector with potential for stellar growth, according to Luke Hamm, CEO of GovGrant, which helps companies in the sector obtain commercialise their innovations, including R&D tax credits. Commenting after the publication of the government’s Office For Life Science’s (OLS) statistical survey of biotech and medtech in the UK, Luke said: “The report underlines the vital importance of this sector to the UK economy, with a quarter of a million employees, turnover of nearly £75bn and over 6,000 businesses across the four key areas.” [biopharma, biopharma service and supply, med tech core and med tech supplier businesses.]

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GovGrant urges Chancellor not to go ‘down under’ for innovation and R&D tax policy ideas

Posted on Monday 18 February 2019 by Luke Hamm | Chief Executive Officer

Australian government proposals to restrict tax incentives for R&D and innovation have been delayed following an outcry from business and research groups. The proposals, intended to save £1.2bn capped cash refunds for research activities at $4m, introduced a new ‘intensity test’ for larger companies to favour higher, more intensive R&D investment, and significantly increased compliance and enforcement measures, according to a report in the Guardian newspaper.

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