Many retailers and wholesalers will be developing solutions that automate, streamline and speed up their operations and supply chains. Any processes or software that are built to actively control stock levels, manage ordering and expedite delivery could qualify as R&D expenditure.
We find qualifying R&D in the way that retailers and wholesalers are responding to client demand. It is apparent in the development of sophisticated customer facing e-commerce platforms. But also in the backend interfaces that need to communicate with stock and accounts systems, where an off the shelf solution is not available and bespoke software is required.
We also see innovation in the development of Apps, where an existing off the shelf App has to be modified or have additional code written to allow it to communicate with other previously untried software packages or databases.
Yes, retailers can claim under either scheme depending on their size and other deciding factors. Of the R&D tax relief claims made in 2018-19 so far, 91% of them were under the SME scheme equating to 66% of the value claimed.
Yes, retailers that have already claimed for R&D tax credits might find that they could claim even more by applying for the Patent Box scheme. In 2018-19, so far, 240 companies claimed under Patent Box, totalling £19 million in benefit.
Retail case studies
Urban Cottage Industries Ltd
Industry: Retail
GovGrant helped make a claim against expenditure on an R&D project which failed initially
Claims made by CCS under the R&D tax credit scheme have increased by 500% over four years