Our Services
At YesTax we’ve put together a team of the UK’s leading tax specialists to help your business benefit from the best possible tax reliefs and incentives. Our wealth of experience and industry know-how allows us to provide a broad range of services, including R&D Tax Relief, Patent Box Relief, Video Games Tax Relief, Capital Allowances and Accountancy Training & Consultancy.
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R&D Tax Relief
R&D Tax Relief
Research and development (R&D) tax relief is a generous tax incentive aimed at companies which are making advancement in science or technology. The benefit of the relief may come in the form of a payable tax credit or a reduction in the corporation tax liability of a company.
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Patent Box Tax Relief
Patent Box Tax Relief
The Patent Box regime was introduced in the UK in 2013 to incentivise businesses to commercialise their patented technologies. Patent Box works by reducing the tax paid on the profits derived from patented products.
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Video Games Tax Relief
Video Games Tax Relief
The intention of these reliefs are to incentivise the promotion of British culture to the world, with generous tax breaks available to organisations designing, creating and performing works that satisfy this objective.
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Capital Allowances
Capital Allowances
Capital allowances represent the tax relief available on a business’s capital expenditure on commercial property. Whether they are purchasing new premises, improving existing property or buying equipment or vehicles, significant tax relief will be due on that expenditure.
R&D Tax Relief
What is R&D Tax Relief?
Research and development (R&D) tax relief is a generous tax incentive aimed at companies which are making advancement in science or technology. The benefit of the relief may come in the form of a payable tax credit or a reduction in the corporation tax liability of a company.
From 1st April 2023, the additional rate of the relief under the SME scheme was reduced from 130% to 86% tax relief on qualifying expenditure. The payable credit for loss making companies was also reduced from 14.5% to 10% (unless the company is classified as an ‘R&D intensive’ business – in which case the 14.5% credit rate remains).
R&D tax relief is also available to large companies which exceed the SME threshold test. The Research and Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC) was introduced in 2013. On 1st April 2023, the RDEC rate was increased from 13% to 20%.
Claims for R&D tax relief are being increasingly scrutinised by HMRC. For many years, claims have been filed and processed without any additional checks being carried out by HMRC. This has now changed. From 8th August 2023, all claims must be filed via HMRC’s new online portal, providing details of the claim through an Additional Information Form (AIF). This is just one of several measures introduced which aims to reduce fraud and error in the R&D tax claim system.
It is therefore essential that claimant companies choose their R&D tax adviser wisely. We have seen a recent emergence of R&D advisers, who are typically not members of professional bodies, cold-calling SMEs suggesting they can make an R&D claim.
These advisers, many with no background in tax, take advantage of companies which are unfamiliar with claiming for R&D. Very often, claims are dubious at best and fraudulent at worst.
It’s therefore imperative that companies choose their R&D tax adviser carefully. At YesTax, our staff are Chartered Accountants, Chartered Tax Advisers and technical specialists. We pride ourselves on providing accurate, robust advice and many of our staff have solely specialised in this area of tax for over ten years. Between us, we’ve managed over 4,000 claims.
Say Yes to deep expertise in this interesting and generous area of the UK tax system.
Find out morePatent Box Tax Relief
What is Patent Box?
The Patent Box regime was introduced in the UK in 2013 to incentivise businesses to commercialise their patented technologies. Patent Box works by reducing the tax paid on the profits derived from patented products.
Businesses which qualify for the scheme will benefit from an effective corporation tax rate of 10% on income deriving from the commercial exploitation of patents. The relief has been phased in over four years, so full relief on all Patent Box profits finally came into force in 2017.
Any UK company which pays corporation tax and holds interests in a patent (or certain other intellectual property rights) can benefit from the scheme straight away. Any company that does not have a patent can apply for a patent and benefit from the tax relief from the date the grant is applied for. It will usually take between 6 months and 6 years to obtain a patent, but the qualifying IP profits are accrued from the date of application and the relief is given when the patent is granted.
Some business leaders and accountants assume a company might struggle to secure a UK patent. But often a strong case can be made with a lower barrier to success than you may think.
At YesTax, we can put you in touch with one of our trusted Patent Attorney partners who will discuss the possibility of obtaining a patent. Once your patent has been granted, we can advise on how to maximise the tax savings offered by the Patent Box.
Find out moreVideo Games Tax Relief
What is Video Games Tax Relief?
The Video Games Tax Relief (VGTR) scheme was introduced in the UK in 2014 as part of a series of Creative Tax Reliefs. The intention of these reliefs are to incentivise the promotion of British culture to the world, with generous tax breaks available to organisations designing, creating and performing works that satisfy this objective.
Other similar reliefs include Film Tax Relief, Animation Tax Relief, High-end Television Tax Relief, Children’s Television Tax Relief, Theatre Tax Relief, Orchestra Tax Relief and Museum and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief. YesTax can assist with any claim for these reliefs.
VGTR is perhaps unique in that companies can claim the relief in conjunction with R&D tax relief, with VGTR being an alternative consideration where a game does not qualify for R&D tax relief. The combination of these reliefs gives companies that are developing video games a great incentive to develop games that both enhance technology and promote British culture.
To qualify for VGTR, a company has to develop a game that is certified as British by the British Film Institute, is intended for supply, and has incurred at least 25% of its total expenditure in the European Economic Area (EEA). Only one company can claim this relief per video game, and where more than one company contributes to the game the “most involved” company will have priority to this relief.
The additional relief available to companies extends to the amount of core expenditure incurred in the EEA. Where this exceeds 80% of total core expenditure, the additional relief is capped at this amount. Core expenditure within the scope of VGTR broadly covers design, production and testing of video games, with expenditure on staff and external subcontractors constituting the vast majority of most claims.
Companies are obliged to split games claiming VGTR into separate trades within the corporation tax computation. Where a trade makes a loss, this can potentially be surrendered for a payable credit of 25% which is aimed at supporting games in mid-development to reach a commercial stage.
Despite the generosity of this scheme, certain elements of making a claim can become very complicated. YesTax has several years of experience in assisting its clients with this underclaimed relief, including jointly claiming R&D relief to maximise the incentives available to UK video game developers.
Say Yes to tax incentives for creativity and innovation in this specialist sector.
Find out moreCapital Allowances
What are Capital Allowances?
Capital allowances represent the tax relief available on a business’s capital expenditure on commercial property. Whether they are purchasing new premises, improving existing property or buying equipment or vehicles, significant tax relief will be due on that expenditure. Typically, capital allowances offer relief over time in order to reflect the life of the asset purchased, however a suite of enhanced and accelerated allowances, intended to encourage capital investment in the UK, often enable significant spend to be offset immediately as a first year allowance. The enhanced and accelerated allowances include:
- Super Deduction
- Annual Investment Allowances
- Research & Development Allowances
- Land Remediation Allowances
- Structures and Buildings Allowances
Capital allowances are available to any company, partnership or sole trader carrying out a trade, which has incurred capital expenditure in their business. Allowances may still be claimed many years after purchase if the assets are still owned in the business, but the most generous reliefs need to be claimed within 2 years of the end of the financial period in which the expenditure was incurred. Timely consideration of your position is therefore vital.
Skilled in tax, surveying and the legals, our professionally qualified capital allowances experts specialise in identifying allowances that might otherwise have been missed. While your accountant may capture the allowances on more routine spend, property purchases and significant projects of improvements involve additional complexities and obscurities such that a specialist is needed to unlock the full potential of the tax relief available.
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