R&D Tax Credits - Case Study

R&D Tax Credits – Client Success Story

Industry Sector: Food & Drink

Initially thinking they didn't qualify for R&D Tax Credits was hard to swallow.

Client Profile: £1.5m turnover & 31 employees

Background: Despite the client initially believing they carried out little, if any, qualifying R&D, a one hour ‘no obligation’ assessment with Innovation Tax (comprising a factory tour and an informal discussion with two members of the Technical staff) identified a host of qualifying activity. The client commented “We were amazed at the result; there must be many more businesses like ours who should be claiming but are probably not. Surely more needs to be done to educate businesses who should be claiming their full entitlement?”.

R&D Tax Credit received: £29,000

Client Feedback:

“We were amazed at the result; there must be many more businesses like ours who should be claiming but are probably not. Surely more needs to be done to educate businesses who should be claiming their full entitlement?”

Insight

Many companies in the Food & Drinks industry can gain significant amounts of funding through the R&D Tax Credit scheme.

The Food & Beverage industry is the UK’s largest manufacturing sector (larger than Automotive and Aerospace combined), contributing over £31bn to the annual economy and employing over 450,000 people. Furthermore, some 97% of the UK’s 7,290 Food & Beverage businesses are SME’s whose activities undertaken on new product development (NPD) and in resolving technical challenges in this fast-moving sector often lead to significant amounts of funding being claimed via R&D Tax Credits.

What types of activities in the Food & Drinks sector qualify for R&D tax credits?

Examples of the types of activity which are likely to qualify for R&D Tax Credits within the Food & Beverage sector include;

Improving taste, texture, and nutritional properties within a product
Development of new packaging solutions
Development and trials of new methods to extend product shelf life
Development of techniques which lead to reduction of costs, raw material wastage and improvement in overall consistency of a product
Activities to scale up production, usually from samples created in a test kitchen
Development activities carried out to satisfy new regulations and compliance
Development of new products to cater for growing market trends, such as gluten free, vegan, dairy free, low carb, reduced fat and sugar-free products, which often require an iterative development process to achieve the desired outcome
Development / improvements made to existing machinery to increase production capacity
Development of new machinery for the production of new products and ongoing testing requirements
Adaptation of existing processes to seek improvements in efficiency, cost and lead times
Improved methods for minimising risk of contamination and materials wastage
Removal of allergens, preservatives or artificial dyes
Investigative work carried out by food scientists to achieve an advance in overall knowledge and capabilities in food manufacturing

HOW CAN WE HELP?

Innovation Tax prides itself on the knowledge and experience of a team consisting of R&D claim technicians, sector specialists and tax professionals who can expertly help our clients to identify all qualifying activities and eligible costs and submit a robust, fully maximised claim, that will stand up to HMRC scrutiny.

Start the conversation with a complimentary, no-obligation discussion.

Innovation Tax specialise in helping companies access vital funding and tax incentives to enable their businesses to grow, increase profitability, reduce risk and enable further investment in R&D and capital investments.

R&D Tax Credits – Client Success Story

Initially thinking they didn't qualify for R&D Tax Credits was hard to swallow.

Insight

HOW CAN WE HELP?

Start the conversation with a complimentary, no-obligation discussion.

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