R&D Tax Credits · South East
R&D tax credit claims in Reading
If your Reading company has spent money trying to resolve a technical problem that competent professionals could not readily solve, you may have an R&D claim worth up to 16.2% of the spend under the merged scheme, or more as a loss-making R&D-intensive company. We review eligibility free, then prepare and file for a fixed fee.
from £999 · fixed, per claim
Next deadlines
- R&D claim deadline: 2 years after the end of the accounting period (and the pre-notification window of 6 months after the period for first-time claimants)
- Company tax return (CT600) due 12 months after your year end (a 31 December year end files by 31 December)
- Corporation Tax payment, 9 months and 1 day after your year end (a 31 December year end pays by 1 October)
- R&D claim deadline: 2 years after the end of the accounting period (and the pre-notification window of 6 months after the period for first-time claimants)
Who this is for
R&D Tax Credits for Reading
Limited companies in Reading that have tried to achieve an advance in science or technology and faced genuine uncertainty doing it: software firms building something that did not exist, manufacturers developing new processes or materials, engineering businesses solving problems off the standard path, and food, biotech and clean-tech companies with development spend to recover.
What is included
Everything inside the fixed fee
- Eligibility review against the statutory definition of R&D for tax purposes, with a written yes or no
- Advance notification to HMRC within six months of the period end for first-time and lapsed claimants
- Technical narrative for each project: the scientific or technological uncertainty, the advance sought and how it was resolved
- Qualifying expenditure computed: staff costs, subcontractors, externally provided workers, software, consumables and data
- The Additional Information Form completed and submitted before the CT600 is filed
- Claim entered on the CT600 and the relief or payable credit tracked through to HMRC's payment
How it works
R&D Tax Credits from Reading, step by step
Tell us your situation
A short message or call about what you do and what needs filing. We ask the questions that determine the right package and nothing more.
Fixed fee in writing
You receive one price for the work, confirmed by email before anything starts. It does not change if the job takes longer than we expected.
Send records, review the draft
Records come by WhatsApp or email. We prepare the draft, explain the figures in plain English and answer your questions.
We file, you get the receipts
Once you approve and the fee is settled, we submit electronically and forward the HMRC or Companies House acknowledgement the same day.
Why IGI
What you get in Reading
One fixed fee for r&d tax credits in Reading, agreed in writing before any work starts and never changed part-way through the job, however long it takes us.
Nothing for Reading is left to the last week. Each deadline relevant to r&d tax credits is tracked from the day you join, with the next four shown on every page we send you.
No appointments, no travel across South East, no parking. Everything for r&d tax credits in Reading happens online, with a real person on the other end during UK working hours.
You get one contact for r&d tax credits, not a queue. Reading clients message the same person throughout and get an answer in working hours, usually within a few hours.
The output for Reading clients is never just a form. It is the form, a one-page summary of what it says, and a note of the decisions it points to for r&d tax credits.
Approval before filing is a rule, not a courtesy. For r&d tax credits in Reading, every submission to HMRC or Companies House follows your written go-ahead.
Local facts
About Reading
Reading is in South East, in the RG1 postcode district, England. Income tax in England follows the UK rates: 20% basic to £50,270, 40% higher to £125,140 and 45% additional, with the personal allowance of £12,570 tapered away above £100,000. National Insurance, VAT and Corporation Tax are UK-wide, and Stamp Duty Land Tax applies to property purchases.
| Place | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| King's Meadows | 0.5 mi | NE |
| Coley, Reading | 0.7 mi | SW |
| Lower Caversham | 0.7 mi | NE |
| Southern Hill | 1 mi | SE |
| Caversham | 1 mi | N |
| Earley Rise | 1 mi | SE |
| Hemdean Bottom | 1 mi | N |
| Caversham Heights | 1 mi | NW |
Worth knowing
Rules that come up in this work
CIS deductions
CIS turns construction subcontractors into advance taxpayers: a fifth of every labour payment goes to HMRC before they see it. Registering keeps the rate at 20% rather than 30%; gross payment status, for established businesses with a clean record, removes deductions altogether. The annual return is where the overpayment comes back, and filing it early brings the refund sooner.
Employer National Insurance
Since April 2025 employer National Insurance has been 15% on earnings above a £5,000 secondary threshold, a substantial increase for small employers. The Employment Allowance rose to £10,500 at the same time to soften it for the smallest businesses. Directors deciding their own salary weigh this cost against the Corporation Tax deduction a salary provides.
Workplace pensions and auto-enrolment
Auto-enrolment duties begin the day you take on your first employee, not when the Pensions Regulator writes to you. Eligible staff must be enrolled, contributions paid every pay period and re-enrolment carried out every three years. Director-only companies without employment contracts are usually exempt. Fines for non-compliance are fixed and escalating.
Dormant companies
A dormant company is one with no significant accounting transactions in the year, where the only permitted entries are the payment for shares on incorporation, Companies House fees and penalties. It still files a confirmation statement and simplified dormant accounts every year. A bank charge or an accountant's fee paid from the company ends dormancy and requires full accounts.
The trading and property allowances
The first £1,000 of trading income and, separately, the first £1,000 of property income each year is tax free under the trading and property allowances. Below those figures no return is needed for that income. Above them you can deduct the £1,000 allowance instead of actual expenses if that is better, which suits side businesses and single-room lets with few costs.
Crypto records and reporting
Most crypto holders have taxable events they do not recognise, because every swap is a disposal even when no pounds change hands. The computation requires the complete transaction history from every exchange and wallet, pooled by asset with HMRC's matching rules applied. Exchange-generated tax reports are frequently wrong because they cannot see transfers between a user's own wallets.
The 60-day property CGT return
Since April 2020 a gain on UK residential property must be reported and the tax paid within 60 days of completion through HMRC's dedicated service, separately from the annual return. Non-residents must report all UK land disposals in the same window whether or not tax is due. Getting the computation right first time matters because the figure is then carried into the Self Assessment.
Questions
R&D Tax Credits questions from Reading
How much is the relief worth under the merged scheme?
For accounting periods starting on or after 1 April 2024 the merged scheme gives a 20% expenditure credit, taxable, so worth around 15% to 16.2% of qualifying spend net of tax. Loss-making companies spending at least 30% of total expenditure on R&D can claim the enhanced intensive rate, worth up to 27%.
What costs qualify?
Staff costs including employer NI and pension for time spent on R&D, externally provided workers at 65%, subcontracted R&D at 65% with new rules on who claims, software licences, cloud computing and data costs, consumables transformed or used up in the R&D, and some clinical trial payments. Capital spend, rent and marketing do not qualify.
Why is the eligibility review free?
Because a large share of enquiries do not qualify, and we would rather tell you that for nothing than charge £999 for a claim HMRC rejects. The review takes a short call and some questions about the projects. You get a written view: qualifies, does not qualify, or borderline with the reasons. There is no obligation afterwards.
What counts as R&D for tax purposes?
A project seeking an advance in overall knowledge or capability in a field of science or technology, through the resolution of scientific or technological uncertainty that a competent professional in the field could not readily resolve. Commercial novelty is not enough; routine development with known methods is not enough. The test is about the technology, not the product.
How long does a claim take to pay out?
HMRC aims to process 85% of claims within 40 days but the compliance campaign has lengthened this for many. Relief reducing a Corporation Tax bill takes effect when the return is processed; payable credits are paid to the company's bank account. We track the claim and chase HMRC if it stalls.
Why do you charge a fixed fee rather than a percentage?
Percentage fees reward inflating the claim, which is exactly what HMRC's campaign targets. A fixed fee means our only interest is a claim that is right. For most small company claims £999 is also considerably cheaper than the 15% to 30% of benefit that contingent advisers charge.
Do you have an office in Reading?
No. IGI Accounting is an online-only firm. We serve Reading and every other UK postcode remotely, with records sent by WhatsApp or email and everything filed electronically. The absence of local premises is why the fee for r&d tax credits is the same in Reading as anywhere else in the country, and why there is nothing to visit and nothing to print.
Is r&d tax credits in Reading really the same price as elsewhere?
Yes. The fee published on this page is what a client in Reading pays and what a client in any other part of England pays. It is confirmed in writing before work starts and the invoice matches the quote. Where a higher package applies because your situation is more complex, we say so at the quote stage, never afterwards.
Let us take the deadlines off your plate in Reading
Tell us what you need. You get one fixed fee in writing, and nothing is filed until you approve it.