Did you know there is a tax relief for companies which invent stuff?
The process of inventing and solving the associated problems is called research and development (R&D). Companies can more than double the tax deduction given for the costs of R&D, and potentially get a refund of PAYE and NICs paid.
The new ‘stuff’ could be a product, a material or a process which has been changed or improved. For example if you find a way of speeding up a production line, or changing the process to cope with a new type of material, the work to achieve that aim is R&D which should qualify for the tax relief.
Many innovative ideas don’t actually work. That doesn’t matter. The costs expended when working on your new idea are tax allowable as R&D, if you can show you were pushing the boundaries of knowledge or capability in the fields of science or technology.
Working on some types of computer programming can count as R&D, particularly where you are making previously unrelated computer systems work together. The key is that no-one else has done what you are trying to, or if they have achieved it, they have kept their discovery to themselves.
