Does your company carry out Research and Development?

R&D Tax Credits

Currently, for every £1 of qualifying R&D expenditure, an SME company registered in Northern Ireland, England or Scotland can save 24.7p of corporation tax. Or if it does not have a corporation tax liability, it can cash losses in and receive a cash payment from HMRC at a rate of 14.5%. Large companies in the UK can also claim R&D tax credits.

Companies subject to corporation tax in the Republic of Ireland can also claim – the benefits are 25% of the qualifying expenditure.

The benefits are there to be claimed, although the rules relating to R&D tax incentives are both complex and subjective and also require specialist advice to ensure the claim is prepared in the correct manner and contains the information that is required.

Patent Box

What will we do for you?

We will assist in compiling and assessing associated costs and tracked profits from relevant patent protected products, and advise on:

• The implications of existing R&D eligible expenditure on calculation of relevant IP income;
• Managing corporation tax benefits of the combination of both R&D tax relief and Patent Box schemes;
• On-going legislative changes & impact on current or future patent box claims.
• We will prepare the Patent Box report and associated calculation for inclusion in your tax return.

What is Patent Box?

The Patent Box is a Government scheme through HMRC that provides UK companies that hold qualifying IP rights or an exclusive IP license, and receive relevant IP income, the opportunity to benefit from a reduced rate of corporation tax on relevant profits. From 1st April 2017 this rate is 10%, which is applied to company profits from eligible patents or other qualifying intellectual property rights such as:

• Patents granted by the intellectual property offices UK IPO and EPO;
• Patents granted by the national intellectual property office of 13 EEA countries;
• Medicinal & botanical IP rights (e.g. supplementary protection certificates);
• Exclusive licences for patented inventions developed, exploited and defended by the licensee;
• Patents acquired from another company, actively managed or developed by the acquiring company.

Intellectual Property (IP) Strategy

An IP strategy can add value for lots of reasons, whether to help define your innovation strategy, support future budgeting, or plan for commercialisation. 

We are delighted to offer multiple in-house services that will provide critical advice on maximising the potential of your IP.

1. Patent Searching and Landscaping
   This can provide you critical insight into your competitor’s technology and their patent activity. These services help contextualise your own R&D output and R&D pipelines, establish what is worthwhile filing patent applications on and increase R&D efficiencies.
2. IP Audits
   We can provide a review of all your IP, including Patentable Subject matter, Trade Secrets, Trademarks and Designs. We recommend that clients read the latest Innovation Management ISO : ISO 56005:2020.
3. Patent Strategy Advice
   We can provide advice on how to monetise your Intellectual Property, identify possible partners and identify why, on what subject matter, when and where you should file patent applications. We can also help you capture more inventions your staff are generating and set up ideation sessions.

4. Patent Watching and Observing

We can set up Alerts for patent applications that may pose a problem for your products or services. Once identified observations may be submitted to th e Patent Office before the patent applications is granted. We can assist with European Patent Oppositions too along with our European Patent Attorney associate firms.

5. Patent Drafting and Filing

Maximum possible commercial protection is achieved by registering your IP. We can either prepare patent specifications to be filed by our Patent Attorneys or prepare full Invention Disclosures for your own Patent Attorneys to finalise and file at a Patent Office. Both options have the potential to save considerable Patent Attorney time and costs.

6. Patent Box

We assess your costs and tracked pr ofits from relevant products to prepare your report

and associated calculation for inclusion in your tax return. We can advise on:

• The implications of existing R&D eligible expenditure on calculation of relevant IP income.
• Managing corporation tax benefits of the combination of both R&D tax relief and Patent Box schemes.
• On-going legislative changes & impact on current or future patent box claims.

Our expertise

The knowledge and experience of our people! Dr Edward O’Gorman has over 20 years’ experience in the Patent Profession, including private and industrial practice. Jonathan Kennedy is an expert in both Patent Box and R&D tax relief, with experience in both accountancy practices and specialist firms, and leads our in-house Patent Box team.

We have the necessary expertise and experience to assist you in preparing claims as we know what information is required and how this should be presented. We provide a full service in terms of preparing the R&D tax credit claim, with the aim of maximising the benefits that you get. The process involves us:

Our fees are entirely based on the claim being successful, and we will charge an agreed percentage of the financial benefit arising from the claim. If the claim does not succeed, then you will not have to pay a fee.

Should HMRC or Revenue Commissioners ask any questions in relation to the claim, then as part of our success fee we will also assist in dealing with these questions.

We can also help you reduce your company’s corporation tax liability under the Patent Box if your business has, or could apply for, a qualifying patent.

We can add real value to your business by helping to minimise the tax it has to pay.