How Your Small Business Can Survive Covid 19 Through r&d Tax Credits and Relief

1. How Your Small Business Can Survive Covid 19 Through r&d Tax Credits and Relief Industry is going through a difficult time with the onset of Covid 19. To some extent production has ceased and growth has been stunted. There are reports of many UK companies going into liquidation and laying off staff despite the government helping employees and employers through the furlough scheme. However, for those determined to survive they should be committed to not standing still. Now is the time to look to the future and determine where growth can be gained. The UK government are fully committed to helping small and medium sized companies survive the current crisis by offering further financial packages. In particular those sme companies who are themselves committed to r&d. In April 2020, not long into a countrywide lockdown, the Chancellor announced there would be £750m in grants and loans for sme's with a single-minded attitude to research and development. On top of that are existing tax incentive schemes aimed at sme research and development. One is known as the sme r&d tax credits scheme. It enables small and medium sized companies to have those costs acquired during research and development to be offset through sme r&d tax credits and incentives. This is a big deal to those companies seeking a way through the current crisis. Sme r&d tax credits allow small and medium sized companies to claim relief or credit between 24 & 26% of their r&d expenditure. This could make a huge difference and when added to other loans and grants they can help secure a companies future. However, the sme r&d tax credits scheme does have certain conditions and requirements especially when defining a small or medium sized business or enterprise. A sme must not have more than 500

2. staff and have a turnover of less than £100m (or there about) and have assets not exceeding £86m. This gives tax relief and credit to thousands of UK companies, including start ups who are determined to survive, grow and prosper through research and development. Even if a small business is running at a loss, which would not be surprising given the current economic climate, sme r&d tax credits can be claimed up to 33%. Provided there is evidence to show the company has been involved in some form of research and development. Covid 19 may have put a stop to such r&d but even still a company can claim sme tax credits for aborted research and development. To claim these sme r&d tax credits companies are recommended to contact specialist firms who have the expertise in dealing with r&d tax incentives, relief and credit. It can be a complicated process but one that will benefit the company greatly. No company needs telling they are in the midst of hard times. What they need is hard hope, hope that comes with a practical answer. Sme r&d tax credits and other forms of relief the government has announced will ensure that UK businesses will not only survive but will continue the belief that the UK is at the forefront of innovation.