All the training and support your R&D team needs

Self-paced online learning in R&D tax relief

We have a constantly growing library of full-length training courses covering foundational and advanced topics. Some examples include:

• How to explain R&D Eligibility to clients and gather the right information in technical meetings
• A detailed guide to the Qualifying Costs in all 5 R&D schemes, and how to apportion them
• HMRC’s Additional Information Form, and how to adapt your existing processes to avoid duplication and improve the quality of your claims
• Specific guidance on Eligibility in Software and how to prepare claims in this tricky area

You can explore the full course catalogue for more details.

As an added bonus, members get a reduced rate on R&D certification, as all the relevant courses are included in the academy.

Live R&D training sessions and recordings

And alongside the courses, members can access many of hours of additional training in our monthly webinars and past recordings.

There are now usually two per month – one on a training topic, and another Spotlight webinar featuring an individual or business with unique insights for an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session.

2024 Webinars

• Getting the best from LinkedIn with Ashley Leeds, December
• Spotlight – Edward Cahill (formerly Get Onbord Ltd, now UnlockKYC), First Tier Tribunals and identity software) – October
• New and updated fields in the Additional Information Form – October
• Spotlight – Sarah Malter and Eneko Igartua (MadeSimplr), the future of tech in R&D – October
• Spotlight – Shilin Chen (SmartClaim), using Generative AI for R&D tax relief – September
• Spotlight – Neil Rollason, former Deputy Director for Large Business at HMRC – August
• Updates and AMA on our Certification in R&D programme – August
• ERIS and R&D Intensive Schemes to support Loss-Making SMEs – June
• Community response to Consultation on Regulation of Tax Advisors – May
• Overview of HMRC’s Guidance for Compliance (GfC3) – April
• How to handle client education & screening – March
• When and how to make use of Voluntary Disclosures – February
• Our Strategy for 2024 – January

R&D Knowledge Bank

Another essential resource in our training academy is the Knowledge Bank. Inside you’ll find dozens of short answers to common but complex questions we’ve received through our R&D Helpline. While the helpline team are quick, the Knowledge Bank is even quicker – you can search for an instant answer at any time of day or night.

The topics covered include:

• Accounting
• CT Returns
• Costs
• Grants and Finance
• The R&D Scheme rules

We also have Knowledge Bank videos giving the key details and takeaways from all the recent First Tier Tribunals that cover R&D cases, and some historic ones of particular note. The hearing notes are included too for your easy reference.

Downloadable templates and resources

Also inside the academy there are a whole suite of other resources and guides.

These include:

• A Claim Calculator Spreadsheet
• A detailed guide to handling HMRC Compliance Checks
• A template letter of engagement for R&D Tax Relief
• Digests of the most interesting technical points arising in our WhatsApp Community
• Our Community responses to R&D-related Government consultations
• Course-specific resources, like a template you can use in client meetings

R&D Claim Support Team

Whenever you use the R&D Helpline or Claim Support, you’ll be ably assisted by our team of experts.

Most of the time you’ll deal directly with Kevin Bailey, our Director of R&D Claim Support. Kevin is a PhD chemist who has been working in R&D claims since 2011, for specialist consultancy firms and at one of the Big4.

Any accountancy-specific questions are handled by Karen Evans, our R&D Tax Relief Specialist. Karen is a Chartered Accountant and Fellow of the ACCA who has specialised in R&D claims since 2015.

Extra support comes from Richard Edwards and Paul Barton. Richard, our founder, has built three companies in the field of R&D tax relief, and started off preparing claims in 2008. Paul has a background in science including a PhD in Physics and has been working in R&D tax relief since 2013.

If you’d like to know more you can read the team’s full bios.

R&D Helpline

When you contact the R&D Helpline by email or WhatsApp, we’ll spend up to 30 minutes researching and answering your question, at no extra cost to you. You get a number of free questions each month, which varies with your level of membership. Most of the time we’ll get back to you the same day or the next working day – or we’ll let you know if we need more time to find an answer.

In the event that you need more support – either more requests, or more complex questions that require us to undertake some work on your behalf – we can offer this through our Claim Support service, where you pay a flat hourly rate for the hands-on help you need.

How Claim Support Works

Any claim support project starts with an email to our team. We’ll ask for any key details we need and give an estimate for how long the work might take. If it’s your first time using Claim Support, we will also need to complete AML checks, unless you completed these as soon as you joined.

If you’re happy with our initial estimate, you can send over any materials we’ll need. Confidentiality is assured by our standard Terms and Conditions. At this point we can then confirm or adjust our estimate; we won’t start work until you’ve accepted the quote.

Enquiry Support

While you can ask our team to do just about anything related to an R&D claim, the most popular request is for support with a compliance check from HMRC.

The team can support you by preparing your client to respond to HMRC’s questions, drafting or reviewing response documents, and attending video calls with HMRC to help your client present their case confidently.

This comprehensive support helps ensure that responses to HMRC’s enquiries are handled professionally and effectively, reducing the risk of penalties or repayment demands. Membership benefits include discounted rates, priority access, and free use of the R&D helpline for quick questions related to enquiries.

Claim Checks

Our claim check service is there to help you ensure that no claim is submitted to HMRC with obvious errors. You can use this service to check a single tricky claim or include it as a regular piece of your claim preparation process.

It’s designed for companies seeking assurance that their R&D claims are accurate and comply with HMRC’s requirements. R&D tax relief can be complex and subjective, so having a second set of eyes to review claims is crucial. Even experienced professionals benefit from an independent review to ensure their claims meet the necessary standards.

Our team conducts a thorough review of all relevant documents and claim details. We then highlight any areas of concern and suggest improvements to strengthen the claim. This proactive approach helps identify and mitigate potential risks before submission, reducing the likelihood of compliance checks or rejections from HMRC.

This comprehensive review process not only protects client relationships but also helps to protect your reputation with HMRC. By checking the claim meets DSIT guidelines, we help safeguard against compliance issues.

Eligibility Review

Interpreting HMRC’s guidance on eligibility and applying it to your client’s projects is one of the trickiest parts of working in R&D. Our eligibility review service offers an expert, independent assessment, making it easier for you and your client to decide whether to proceed with a claim.

We begin by conducting a detailed review of your client’s projects to see if they meet the criteria for R&D tax relief. This thorough evaluation identifies qualifying activities and ensures they align with the scheme’s requirements.

You can choose whether we meet your client alongside you to discuss their projects, or work with you behind the scenes to review notes and documentation about the projects instead. If we meet with your client directly, our team can help smooth over tricky conversations where a client has very little work which qualifies for relief – we can be the ‘bad guy’ instead of you, and help to preserve the client relationship.

The Members Forum on WhatsApp

We host our members in a private WhatsApp community with 20 channels on different topics. This allows you to select the conversations that interest you without being sucked into a giant group-chat. We have a code of conduct and quiet hours to help protect your work-life balance and maintain a positive, supportive environment.

Being part of this community is great for networking. It provides an excellent platform to connect with like-minded professionals, fostering valuable relationships that can lead to collaborations, partnerships, and career opportunities.

It’s also really helpful for knowledge sharing. Members can share insights, latest trends, and best practices, enhancing each other’s understanding and keeping everyone updated with industry developments. This is particularly apparent in our threads about HMRC and enquiries.

Being part of our Members Forum can be incredibly helpful if you’re a sole business owner or the only one working on R&D. Isolation can be a tough issue, and being part of a community means having access to a support network that can offer advice, troubleshoot problems, and provide encouragement during challenging times. This can greatly reduce the feelings of anxiety that can arise when running an R&D service on your own.

Members Directory

All of our members are offered a listing in our Members Directory, which earns around 300 visitors per month. Your entry shows how much training your team has completed, whether any of them have earned Certification in R&D, and if your website has been approved against our Good Practice standard. The more training your team completes, the higher you’re listed in the directory, so it’s not a matter of who has the biggest team or pays for an enhanced listing – you can earn that spot yourself!

As well as increased visibility, the directory also gives a small boost to your own website’s search performance, and allows your potential customers to favourably compare your company with your competitors.

Spotlight webinars

As well as offering training webinars each month, we also run ‘Spotlight webinars’ featuring guest speakers who work in all corners of the R&D industry.

As a member, you can use these as an opportunity to learn about others’ experiences, new or developing technology, new products and services for R&D advisors, and even insider knowledge from former staff at HMRC.

You can also pitch yourself as a speaker at these webinars, which is a great opportunity to get your product or service out there in front of peers who can then follow up with you inside the Members’ Forum. Speaking slots are also available to non-members, but priority is given to members with products or services that are adjacent to R&D tax relief.

Marketing and promotional support

Beyond these we offer a handful of other resources and opportunities to help members promote their own business. We’re always happy to feature guest articles written by our members, so if you have something to say on a specific R&D or related topic, you can share it with our wider audience. We also feature members in testimonials and case studies which we share across our website and on LinkedIn.