Smaller businesses across the UK may soon be able to automate their R&D tax credit claims thanks to new technology developed by innovators Made.Simplr.
As part of a package of £90 million of specialist grant enterprise funding from Innovate UK – the United Kingdom’s innovation agency – to support businesses affected by COVID-19, Made.Simplr is developing a cloud-based system that automates the R&D tax credit claim process for smaller businesses.
The new system will help those businesses that traditionally are unable to afford specialist the necessary specialist advice from an accountant or who have limited knowledge of the R&D tax credit scheme – which offers to provide tax relief of up to 33p in every £1 of qualifying expenditure for SMEs.
With millions of pounds worth of funding being missed each year, Made.Simplr believes its new platform will help hundreds of the UK’s smallest businesses and start-ups to get the financial support they need during this difficult period so that they can survive and thrive.
Dr Sarah Malter, Managing Director at Made.Simplr, said: “The very smallest businesses in the UK are often those with the most innovative ideas. These early-stage businesses often do not have the resources to tap into the benefits of R&D tax credit funding, which means they tend to miss out until they are much larger, by which point they may not be able to reclaim as much tax relief.
“This new system that we are developing, thanks to the funding provided by Innovate UK, is unique and should help to widen access to R&D tax credits at an essential time for these smaller businesses – when funding from lenders or other grants simply may not be available.”
Made.Simplr already works with a wide range of accountancy firms via its existing innovative cloud-systems, which are designed specifically to make R&D tax claims more efficient and cost-effective for accountancy firms of all sizes.
“We are taking the principles that we have learned from our current platform and are looking to simplify them and apply them to much smaller businesses – allowing us to develop things quickly,” explained Sarah.
“This new product is not designed to compete with our accountancy customers services, as it is aimed at much smaller businesses, who may not be unable to access their advice due to the costs involved.”
