Richard Curtis considers that a recent First-tier Tribunal decision is a salutary reminder of the importance of supporting evidence in research and development relief claims.
There has been much talk of ‘growth’ in the past few months from a wide range of political voices. Apparently, this is the magic key to increased tax revenue without having to raise the level of taxation. The only problem is that growth has been somewhat elusive in previous years.
The corporate tax relief for expenditure on research and development activities is supposed to encourage investment and innovation in business, which should increase growth. Whether this is happening also seems open to doubt according to a recent report by the National Audit Office (tinyurl.com/yydxrwtx), but it did note HMRC is tightening its investigation of research and development (R&D) relief claims.
