How can I scale up my R&D tax credit operation?

WhisperClaims was conceived as the solution to problems that the founders experienced in the R&D tax credit industry, including a lack of capacity for preparing claims and inconsistencies in claim preparation, as well as the difficulties of finding, training and retaining skilled staff. So, would this solution work for you?

As you know, claiming R&D tax credits can be difficult and time-consuming. It requires knowledge of science and technology alongside knowledge of accounting and finance, as well as an appreciation of HMRC’s inner workings. There is also no standard guidance as to what, if any, supporting documentation must be submitted to HMRC.

The time-consuming nature of claiming, coupled with the need for technological understanding, can cause capacity issues within accountancy firms and consultancies. Even once you’ve built up and trained a team of R&D tax credit experts, you have the problem of making sure that the claims are correct, consistent and produced at a low enough cost to be competitive.

So, given these problems, how can you ramp up the number of R&D claims you prepare?

Specialist consultancies and self-employed experts

The traditional way to increase capacity is to increase the size of your technical team, or, if you’re an accountancy firm, to engage external R&D consultants. Although this latter option can be effective, it has some serious drawbacks. Hiring new technical analysts is time consuming, and the cost of training can be high. Using external consultants is also costly and exposes your clients to a different company and level of customer service that you have no control over. In both scenarios, reports are produced manually, with the associated time costs and inconsistencies.

R&D tax credit software

Software systems are increasingly being introduced to the R&D tax claims market as a way to quickly and easily produce basic claims, increasing capacity and reducing costs. These systems, by their nature, produce consistent reports, and gather information on all areas of eligibility and cost each and every time. Accountants and specialists can then focus their time on working with clients to ensure that more complex claims are handled appropriately, and advising clients on how best to utilise their benefits. However, how can you be sure that a software system is reliable and cost-effective? Some useful questions to ask are:

• Was the system built by people with a background in R&D tax credits?
• Can the system handle more complex claims, such as those involving grants and subcontracting?
• Can the system calculate the eligible expenditure from raw financial inputs?
• Is the report automatically generated?
• Is the system regularly updated to reflect HMRC’s latest guidance?
• Does using the system save you, and your clients, time and money?

When you use WhisperClaims, you can answer a resounding yes! to all of the questions above. The system was designed and built by a team with over sixteen years’ experience of preparing R&D tax credit claims, and is the only fully-automated report generation system currently available for the wider market. It handles the full range of complexities typically found in preparing claims and, uniquely, can prepare a full claim and associated numbers in around 45-60 minutes.