Who do we work with?
As R&D Tax Claim Specialists based in Cambridge, we know from experience that Cambridge and its wider area of East Anglia, the Home Counties and into London is a hotbed of innovation and research. That said, we have clients all over the UK and do work the length and breadth of the country delivering our R&D tax services to a great range of clients, this includes in the following areas to name a few: Bedford, Bishops Stortford, Bury St. Edmunds, Chelmsford, Colchester, Corby, Huntingdon, Harlow, Hertford, Hemel Hempstead, Ipswich, Leicester, Loughborough, Luton, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Norwich, Peterborough, Rutland, Sawbridgeworth, St Albans, Stevenage, Surrey and Ware. The list goes on!
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We work with any size Company who thinks they might qualify for R&D (our fee structures can be tiered so no claim is ever too small). We also work with 'people' whom introduce businesses who might qualify for R&D. That means often our work is introduced by people that are accountants, other tax professionals, other professional advisers, patent lawyers, normal lawyers (if they exist), design agencies, other clients and all other manner of business advisers/ consultants.
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What this has meant historically is that we work with the Big and Beautiful companies, and the Small and Sexy (Sexy start-ups that is!) to help them ensure that we bring to bear our R&D Tax expertise to help secure refunds and improve the financial future of our clients. We personally hate the word Expert, as it is so often overused, but we do try to excel in our field of work and expertise is simply something that comes with the experience of repetition over time. Symbiotic Tax have many hundreds of claims under our belt!
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But I have been told time and time again I do not qualify for R&D relief?
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We still consistently see clients who are being told they do not and will not qualify - Eek! Once they speak to us they are kicking themselves as they always thought they might qualify but listened to others. We also see a lot of clients who do qualify, but their adviser has not understood the extent to how much they qualify and thus have under claimed, or even said the time and effort of claiming is not worth it - Ouch!
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What we do is help clients understand just how much they can and do qualify for. The first investigative meetings are often not an easy process (blood and stones comes to mind), but so often, with a little effort we hit finally arrive at the ‘lightbulb’ moment, and everyone in the room finally knows what to do.
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Advice tailored for each and every client - We tailor what we do to suit you and your organisation...
Whatever your size, with our experience of working across a vast range of sectors, we are sure to be able to draw from experience of hundreds of successful R&D claims to help you understand how you qualify.
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If your Company qualifies, R&D tax relief can provide the claimant company with a tax refund regardless of whether it has ever paid Corporation Tax. This comes in the form of an R&D Tax Credit which is of particular use to start-ups which have not moved out of the investment phase and into profit.
Taking action to obtain your free assessment of whether you will qualify (especially if your company year-end is approaching) will ensure you maximise your potential to access real cash to invest in your business.
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So get in touch and we can tell you how we can tailor what we do to best fit around you (even if it requires some elastic) and help you obtain a valuable R&D tax claim refund for your business.
Who we have helped so far
Sector: Hi-tech Offshore, Onshore and Marine Engineering Fire Extinguishing Systems
Ultrafog are one of the fastest growing fire safety solutions providers in their sector. They operate in a hi-tech sector historically dominated by a limited number of large key players. This necessitated a need for Ultrafog to invest heavily in R&D to create a market leading engineering solution, which would have the potential to disrupt the industry norms.
Ultrafog started out developing engineered fire systems for large scale Marine applications. However, as a result of their investment in R&D, the market leading spray coverage of the system has seen them further invest in the development of Land, Oil and Gas based applications of their technology. This represents a high cost and long time frame investment in order to obtain the necessary certifications to prove that the system operates to the relevant bodies fire protection standards in the sector for which the system is created.
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In 2013, when Ultrafog were first introduced to Symbiotic's team of tax specialists, they only initially appeared to be a small UK start-up with big ambitions. However, when James met with the Management Team at the UK base of engineering operations, it quickly became apparent the extent to which R&D investment was planned. James quickly identified that the proposals represented significant R&D investment, which at this point the management team did not realise a tax relief existed for.
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James spent a number of hours explaining the R&D scheme, how it worked and how it would apply to Ultrafog. Symbiotic Tax were then tasked with completing the R&D project which it became apparent would be a sizeable task for an International Group. Work quickly discovered that different teams around the group were performing all manner of R&D in a variety of locations, some of which was in countries where no comparable R&D incentives existed,and no thought had been given as to how best R&D structure activities to ensure that relief was obtained.
In support of the R&D project we worked with management to devise structured and thought through systems, and R&D procedures to ensure that relevant R&D work was accurately captured and the costs attaching to each part of the R&D was accurately documented.
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Over the years, Ultrafog has now invested thousands of man hours of their own staff's time on development of their extensive range of fire protection systems. All of the sector investments are subjected to extensive Class Approvals and independent verification by a number of leading fire laboratories.
This continued expansion of Ultrafog into new sectors has meant that they have to be committed to R&D focusing on enhancing, improving and expanding their product ranges with new products and technologies. This is often driven also by continued Fire Safety improvements as Fire Standards continue to be shaped and evolve to improve safety based on experience and so often catastrophe.
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No longer a small UK start-up, but a significant multi-national business, Symbiotic continue to support Ultrafog and and provide the business with R&D support to ensure that the business has the support it needs to continue its roll out of innovative fire solutions which continue to disrupt the industry and keep people and property fire safe.
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Ultrafog established its UK presence in 2012 and upon the recommendation of the Department of Trade and Industry we appointed a Top 40 firm that neither seemed to understand us or our growth plans. Fortunately we were introduced to James by our Financial Controller in 2013 and we have maintained a long and happy working relationship since.
We are now a leading worldwide business in our field and James has been critical in helping us make investment decisions throughout his tenure. His record, foresight and big picture planning means that we are always confident in his recommendations.
With an enormous R&D budget spend each year, R&D is just one field that James has provided valued and continued input on.
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Symbiotic Tax, therefore continue to be a go to adviser for us when we have R&D and tax advice needs.
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Ann Micheli
Managing Director
Ultrafog Ltd
Sector: Supply Chain Management Systems Audit and Consultancy
Verisio audits companies globally for ethical labour conditions and compliance to the Modern Slavery Act, on behalf of retailers, brands and other organisations.
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As a leading provider of Supply Chain Management Systems Verisio have invested extensively in the development of their software and audit platform called Optimus over a number of years.
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James was introduced by a mutual contact to Verisio's Managing Director Leon Reed and after a brief initial meeting, James quickly identified that he had no doubts that Verisio qualified and had done for a number of years without being aware of the R&D relief scheme.
James at his meeting with Leon could quickly see that the direction, investment and challenges Verisio were facing in what was a number of relatively new and evolving areas of legislation. This meant what they were doing was so innovative that there was little in the way of other solutions, and as a result leading UK retailers were abandoning their own Supply Chain systems to move onto Verisio's platform.
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Verisio's systems have been designed and developed to help businesses ensure they can accurately map their entire supply chain, from farmers field raw materials like Egyptian cotton to the finished designer label T-shirt into which is incorporated. The need for retailers and suppliers to be able to document and prove sustainability and compliance with relevant legislation in supply chains is now a subject very much in focus.
Verisio's team have to work to develop not only the audit procedures and practices to comply with the relevant legislation, but they then need to ensure that the software accurately follows legislative procedures and ensures that it is able to accurately and efficiently records multi-levels of the supply chain of a large and disparate group of suppliers. Allowing the suppliers to also access and upload key audit documentation for review by the audit teams.
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As a significant data controller Verisio also invests significant investment in ensuring absolute security as they also need to assure users of security of the sensitive supply chain data that is held. As a software provider to many significant retailers Verisio has consistently looked to incorporate changes to legislation within the platform to tight deadlines.
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Software security and R&D investment in its platform development is a business critical area for Verisio. When high-profile hacks are constantly hitting the headlines, the team recognise the need constantly test their platform and software against the latest threats and vulnerabilities, this ensuring the software remains robust.
This investment in testing and evaluation always involves a degree of technological uncertainty. This is because the team have to work their way through a range of complex scenarios to evaluate how attacks may be made. As well as ensuring that the system has absolute integrity and reliability from an operational perspective.
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Verisio's clients choose Verisio over their own systems as they require a supply chain solution that fully integrates their suppliers with their systems in a format that is easy to audit control and raise action flags.
Symbiotic Tax's work to obtain a significant R&D refund on their behalf has furthered Verisio's pursuit of innovation excellence as they have been able to bring on more technical staff ahead of their original budget plans thanks to the value provided by the R&D refund.
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We have worked with James and Symbiotic Tax on our R&D claims since February 2019. We had never heard of R&D until we were introduced to James by a mutual contact.
Our on-going investment and drive to innovate though means that we have worked with James to ensure we set up processes to capture what we do, we have altered our accounting methods and kept records of the work we are undertaking for R&D so we never miss out again.
Our R&D refunds are really important and have allowed us to push that little bit more. Enabling us to expand our team and continue to push into new areas of business.
As a fast growing UK based business working internationally we love the fact we are getting some financial recognition for the effort and R&D investment we make.
Leon Reed
Managing Director
Verisio Limited
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Sector: Temporary Inflatable Structures for the Conference and Exhibitions Industry
In 2015, James was introduced to Evolution Dome by one of Symbiotic Tax's longest standing clients, a large engineering company where James had become very good friends with one the directors (Tom) who lived life on the edge.
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James was told by Tom about a relatively new start-up he was helping who were doing amazing things with inflatable structures. He said they were investing lots, having success and some failures along the way but they were on the up (he was sure they qualified for R&D, based on his own experience from his company claiming). Tom said to James, you would like Ash (Ashley), I will set up a meeting for you, as I told him about the work you have done for us and he is keen to hear more.
So off James went to an Industrial Estate in Ramsey where he met Ash. James plied his wares and explained what he could do, he went away, followed up and then never heard anything more.
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In the interim unfortunately Tom passed away after a short but serious illness, and one day James received a call from Ashley asking him whether he was serious about the conversation which occurred two years earlier. James replied of course of he was, but he would need to be appointed to take the matter forward and figure out how best he could help. Ashley explained that in the two years since they spoke growth had been stellar, he had worked all the hours he was given but he needed help, the type of help Tom had explained James was providing to his much larger engineering business.
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So Ash appointed James, and his initial work revealed the typical problems that he had come to expect from a fast growth company, where so much of the effort has been put into product development and ensuring that day to day operations are a success, but the nitty-gritty was being overlooked. James upon appointment set about helping Ashley to not only restructure, but better control how the financial side of business was running and most importantly help make everything efficient.
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What was very clear was that the team were carrying out astounding amounts of R&D, dealing with technical issues on a variety of levels, experiencing costly failures, producing structures that others were telling them could not be made to work (which did work), and in some cases finding that new designs did not work. This meant then going back to the drawing board to solve the issues. Basically, all James saw was tick tick and tick for the key indicators of R&D.
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With great R&D success, today, Evolution Dome has long put its growing pains behind it. It is now the market leader in its field (having seen competitors come and go), it has the largest range of established and most highly rated inflatable structures available anywhere in the world, and is the go to choice for multiple Blue Chip International Business when they have a need for temporary event structures.
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The level of R&D investment in order to achieve it’s award-winning sealed Air Beam technology and design was a long 3 years in the making. The investment now sees the Company able to provide structures with a 55 MPH wind rating . This reduces the risk of deflation in the event of a power failure and by the nature of its design, it has produced some of the most eye-catching temporary structure on the market today.
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As an established business with a solid foundation, Ashley only wants to push harder, so whether it be investment in exploring new materials, attempting to move further upwards to a 69 MPH wind rating on its structures, or designing something new and eye-catching. The investment in R&D by Evolution Dome has and will continue to be extensive.
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The Company’s desire to continue to create ever larger and more dynamic structures means new ideas are constantly being tested and the business continues to evolve and grow to ensure it remains market leader for EN, BS, DIN certified Temporary Inflatable Structures.
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We were introduced to Symbiotic Tax by an engineering company we work alongside on certain projects. James had helped them for many years and came highly recommended.
We met James but did not take up his services straight away. We was sceptical of his promises which sounded too good to be true, unfortunately, as a relatively new business at this time we listened to our accountant which in the end proved to be a not the right decision.
Needless to say though, we now have a new accountant we are very happy with, and James has been a very trusted professional services supplier to us since September 2017.
It's not often when you think it sounds too good to be true, that you actually get the outcome you were promised.
Symbiotic Tax achieved for us everything that was promised and we have even introduced them to other businesses whom have also been equally happy and surprised with the service received and outcome obtained.
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Mr Ashley Austin
Founder and Managing Director
Evolutiondome Ltd