Latest Technology

Tech companies that are financed through EIS equity cash will be aware that this ‘tax wrapper’ can be super-generous, but that many criteria have to be met to ensure eligibility. One of these long standing criteria has been that the company must use the proceeds (up to £5m pa) raised: In either a qualifying trade…

Fraud is a gigantic area which I would never be able to discuss fully in one blog however, after a recent run-in with a fake HMRC line; I did want to make you aware of a few key things to look out for or to be aware of when dealing with possible fraud. It’s important…

Tech companies that have a business plan of developing a new product, with the aim of an eventual trade sale or IPO exit, will be very familiar with EMI share options. These options give generous personal tax breaks, to help recruit, retain and reward middle management and key workers. Under generic EU principles, such tax…

  As we all get used to the Chancellor’s main Budget now being in the Autumn, he still chose to make a few policy announcements in his Spring Statement yesterday. Items of interest to those running technology companies included: Stagnant growth. Despite the ‘Light at the end of the tunnel’ strapline for his speech, the…

What’s in it for Tech Companies? Philip Hammond’s second Budget had to steer a precarious path. Within the parameters of slowing UK growth, preparing for Brexit and a lack of spare money, he had to somehow end public sector austerity and continue reducing the deficit. Whilst trying to restore his own political reputation. Not an…

  The Research and Development Expenditure Credit (RDEC) has now replaced the large company R&D scheme. This credit is mandatory for accounting periods ended 31 March 2017, and we are now seeing the implications of claiming the new relief. The credit applies to large companies, and SME’s who claim under the large company scheme, for…

R&D tax relief, to provide government subsidies to those companies that develop innovation products, services or systems, has been with us for 17 years now. The latest HMRC R&D tax relief take-up report, encouragingly, shows that the following recent improvements to the scheme have increased the amount of tax relief claimed by 22% over the…

Companies that are developing innovative new products, services or systems have long understood the generosity of the R&D tax relief rules. These give a notional 130% uplift to eligible costs in the company’s corporation tax computation. Such eligible costs include ‘employee costs’, which hitherto has included all ‘reimbursed expenses’. This has always seemed overly generous…

Whiting & Partners, The Corporate Finance Network’s representative firm in Suffolk, has successfully advised an IT security company on its sale to a larger industry player.   The vendors had originally acquired the business via a Management Buy-Out a few years earlier and had significantly grown the business under their ownership. The company had reached…

In a bid to give companies more certainty over whether or not their R&D claim will be successful, HMRC introduced an advance assurance process in November 2015. If you pass this new test, HMRC will agree not to enquire into your R&D claims for the first 3 accounting periods of claiming this relief. So is…