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Having an enquiry launched into an R&D tax relief claim can be quite stressful for innovative businesses that know they have done all they can correctly.
If you have been working with us for a while, there is a good chance we have worked with you to defend your R&D tax relief claim from an enquiry.
You may not have realised that we also offer this service for claims that we did not compile ourselves.
If you know of another innovative business struggling with an enquiry, then we would like to support them in getting a resolution for their enquiry.
How does the enquiry defence process work?
It is possible that you are in the unusual position of not having had an enquiry yet, so it is worth understanding how the process works so that you can be more prepared.
When approaching an enquiry, particularly for an R&D tax relief claim that we did not help create, it is vital to establish the legitimacy of the claim.
This involves a conversation with the innovative business’s competent professional to learn more about the advances sought, as well as a review of the compiled figures.
We also review the R&D tax relief claim, as well as any feedback from Revenue, to build an argument.
In the case of the Mandatory Random Enquiry Programme (MREP), a response may involve reasserting previously established facts to satisfy the obligatory enquiry.
Where there are more targeted concerns from Revenue, we may work to provide additional evidence or rework the technical narrative to better foreground innovation and remove routine or non-qualifying tasks.
Will the full value of an R&D tax relief claim be preserved?
We defend valid R&D tax relief claims to the full extent that correct calculations have been done and the appropriate costs have been assigned.
This means that there are times when we adjust figures in the R&D tax relief claim to better reflect qualifying direct and indirect expenditure.
We do not defend any figures that were erroneously included and make it clear in the enquiry defence when and why figures have been adjusted.
As you might expect, this approach does result in instances where it is not possible to defend the claim at all if the R&D tax relief claim is invalid.
When this happens, we work to address the concerns of Revenue in a way that reduces the risk of penalties and fines for the innovative business.
It would be necessary to repay any claimed relief in this instance, as there is no recourse for holding onto funds that were illegitimately acquired.
From there, we can work with those innovative businesses to ensure that they only submit valid R&D tax relief claims in the future.
We strongly believe in making the R&D tax relief space a trustworthy and respectable place and we encourage you to help us achieve this by recommending our services to other innovative businesses.
To discover more about how we can protect innovation from enquiries, speak to our team today.
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