Written by the team at Amplifi Solutions
The UK SME tech industry received £695m in HMRC’s R&D tax credits in 2018/19. Northern Irish businesses received £105m across all sectors, up £30m from the previous year according to the latest statistics.
Amplifi Solutions, a local R&D tax credit provider, welcomed the new report showing, with the help of digital transformation, how the UK SME tech sector achieved just over 25% of the £2.7bn in R&D tax relief that was awarded to SMEs in 2018/19; more than any other sector.
However, with around 1,200 tech companies in Northern Ireland and only 1,615 claims made across all businesses in the province, it is clear some local companies and tech enterprises are still missing out.
Jamie Watts, Commercial Director at Amplifi Solutions commented on the news: “It’s great to see more companies benefiting from HMRC’s incentive. In June, Belfast was named one of the top 10 tech cities of the future. Our tech sector is growing fast, innovating nearly every day, from working on the next disruptive technology to developing updates for existing platforms, all of which could benefit from this valuable support avenue.”
HMRC’s report also showed that the average claim value for Northern Ireland companies had increased to £65,000 – compared to £57,000 this time last year. But this is still behind other areas in the UK, with England’s average claim value sitting at just over £92,000.
Jamie continued: “Covid-19 has completely changed our business environment, but with it, we have witnessed digital transformation like never before.
"Innovative change that would have ordinarily taken some businesses years, has occurred within a matter of weeks or months. Whether they are successes or failures, they could all benefit from an additional tax reduction or cash benefit of up to 33p for every qualifying £1 spent on R&D.
“At Amplifi Solutions, over a third of our clients are in the tech sector, the highest growth area in our portfolio. Our team includes qualified accountants, data analysts and expert technical writers, including those with backgrounds in software engineering.
"We provide a specialist service to handle the entire claim’s process, guiding companies through an initial and free exploratory meeting, creation of a robust R&D claim, receipt of your benefit and even on-going support.”
Amplifi Solutions are one of Northern Ireland’s leading R&D tax credit consultancies, saving local businesses hundreds of thousands of pounds annually. To find out more visit www.amplifi.solutions
