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Why use an R&D tax claim portal over an R&D advisor?

As more and more UK companies cotton on to the generosity of R&D Tax Credits, claims are sky rocketing. If your Ireland-based company has recently been involved in technical or scientific research and development, then listen up! This one’s for you.

Traditionally, businesses turn to tax advisors for help with their R&D claims - and there are certainly benefits to doing so. However, for SMEs especially there’s a huge draw to using an R&D tax claim portal like Tax Cloud instead.

What are R&D Tax Credits?

R&D Tax Credits are offered by Revenue as a way to encourage Ireland-based companies to innovate and grow. It’s one of the Irish government’s top incentives for encouraging investment in research and development.

The scheme works by offering a sizeable proportion of eligible R&D costs back as a credit. The credit is calculated at 25% of qualifying expenditure and is used to reduce a company's Corporation Tax.

Further good news is that the 25% credit is offered on top of the standard 12.5% rate deduction. So in effect, 37.5% of eligible R&D costs can be reclaimed - making it one of the most generous tax reduction schemes in Ireland.

The financial injection that results from R&D Tax Credits can be spent on anything the company sees fit. Some companies use it to pay off debts or buy extra materials, but many also plough it back into further R&D projects.

This is all great, but the issue comes with claiming, as it’s a somewhat complex process. Understanding exactly which of your unique project costs can be included in an R&D claim (and which can’t) is a real minefield with over-claiming and under-claiming common. That’s why a claims portal like Tax Cloud is such an attractive option.

Why else is Tax Cloud so popular?

There are some key benefits to Tax Cloud, especially for smaller businesses. They include:

Making and filing R&D Tax Credit claims is much quicker

With Tax Cloud, you get a full service from the start of the process to completion. Overall, it can make the process substantially quicker. Tax Cloud guides you through the process and allows you to work on your claim at your own pace by breaking it down into a series of sections. This gives you the opportunity to consult with tax experts, cost accountants and technical specialists for support along the way.

Using Tax Cloud costs less

With most tax consultancy firms, the cost of making a successful claim is around 20% of any corporation Tax Refund or Tax Credit you are entitled to. Compare that to applying for R&D Tax Credits through Tax Cloud which comes with a fee of either 5% or 10% of the R&D Tax Credit. This gives you more money to spend on what really matters, like furthering new investments and projects.

Take a look at the Tax Cloud pricing page for more information about the fee structure.

Working with Tax Cloud reduces your workload

You may think that taking on the responsibility of using a R&D tax portal will mean you need to do more work than if you gave the responsibility to a tax advisor. However, with a tax advisor, you are still needed to do a lot of work in providing information on wages, materials, overheads and any collaborations.

With an online portal, you do the same work, but submit it yourself, with support every step of the way. Using Tax Cloud can save your company around 37% of the consultant’s fee compared to traditional consultancy offerings for a similar amount of effort.

Online access 24/7

A huge benefit to using the Tax Cloud portal is that it’s cloud-based, so you can access it 24/7 with nothing to download or maintain. It’s also completely secure, so only yourself and your team members with the password can access your R&D claim to work on it.

The fact is there aren’t enough hours in the day and putting together a fully optimised R&D tax claim can take time. So being able to work on your application in bitesize chunks at a time to suit you makes the whole thing much more manageable.

Don’t forget: R&D tax claims are more involved than just sending your tax return

Following on nicely from the above point, it’s worth noting that you do need to do more than just send your business tax return. You need to have records of everything that you have spent on research and development, including any subcontracted work with invoices and details of when the work was completed. By following the process through a portal like Tax Cloud, you can track what you have submitted and what you still need to submit. This can be a lot easier than constantly meeting up with or having to speak to an advisor, who is likely to have more than one client at any one time.

If you think your business may qualify for R&D Tax Credits, book your demo of Tax Cloud free of charge. In addition, accountancy practices with clients using Xero can partner with Tax Cloud to offer a specialist R&D tax credits service and receive up to 50% of the fee for each claim successfully processed by Revenue.

Tax Cloud makes claiming R&D Tax Credits a breeze

Tax Cloud’s mission is simple: to reduce consultancy fees and make R&D Tax Credit claims easier and quicker for companies across Ireland. Since September 2017, Tax Cloud has helped hundreds of businesses successfully make R&D Tax Credit claims.

Powered by Myriad Associates, the portal will walk you through the claims process to make a fully approved claim whilst not having to pay large win fees typically associated with full R&D consultancy. There’s also nothing to pay up front as fees are only payable once the award has been cleared. So there’s no financial risk for you at all, and potentially thousands to be gained.

If you would like to find out more about R&D Tax Credits or how to get started on your claim, call us on +353 1 566 2001 or send us a message. Our team work entirely remotely, so it doesn’t even matter where in Ireland your business is based - you don’t even need to leave your office.