I am angry!

I have just taken a call from a local accountant who is worried that her client is being misled with regard to their R&D claim. On reviewing the claim, she told the client that they should remove rent, rates and interest costs as they didn’t qualify. However, the client told her that they had been advised, by “an R&D specialist” that these should be included in the claim because “the legislation does not specifically exclude them”. Oh dear.

Apparently, this “specialist” suggested that there was no clear list of what costs do and don’t qualify. Has he looked at s 1052 (2) CTA 2009 and the sections cross referred by that subsection, I wonder?

I won’t recount all of the other tenuous arguments put forward to justify including non-eligible costs, I am sure you get the picture.

I do hope the client company takes the advice of my accountant contact and removes these incorrect items from the claim.

I also hope that this “specialist” takes the time to learn and understand the R&D legislation before too long.

I am glad that companies are taking advice on making R&D claims – far too many companies, particularly SMEs – are missing out. However, please do ensure that your adviser is qualified and understands the legislation first.