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R&D tax relief has been an area of scrutiny for the last few years, understandably putting a lot of clients and advisors off making claims, but in the current economic environment it is more important than ever to help businesses access innovation incentives, in a way that is robust.  Advisers discuss a lot of otherwise-valid claims being increasingly rejected, delayed or scaled back because the narrative, evidence or cost treatment doesn't stand up.  Increasingly, the balance of risk and reward is being challenged, with clients questioning the amount of management time and distraction involved in handling HMRC enquiries, even if the claim ultimately proves to be valid. 

This session shows accountants and tax advisers the most common technical and practical failure points (what triggers queries, what gets removed, what gets classed as 'not R&D'), and gives a repeatable approach to prevent avoidable rejections - improving client outcomes, reducing professional risk and protecting fees by making claims faster pro support and easier to defend. 

In this session Simon Briton will cover the following topics:

• Why claims get rejected in practice - the patterns behind “ineligible R&D”, “unsupported costs”, and “weak or inconsistent narratives” - and how these show up in enquiries.
• How to build a robust technical narrative (baseline, uncertainty, advancement, competent professional) that aligns with the numbers.
• Costing pitfalls that invite challenge - staffing, subcontracting/EPWs, consumables, software/cloud/data, apportionments - and how to evidence each category credibly.
• An efficient workflow for scoping, documenting, review, and client sign-off that stands up to scrutiny (without drowning the team in admin).
• Enquiry response strategy, evidence packs, risk-rating claims and resetting client expectations to avoid future disputes.

By attending this session, you will be able to: 

• Spot the red flags that lead to rejection or heavy restriction, before a claim is filed. 
• Write and review stronger R&D narratives that connect the story, the uncertainties and the qualifying activities to the costs claimed. 
• Apply consistent cost treatment rules across common categories, with clean logic for appointment and eligibility. 

This session will be of most interest to: -

• Tax advisers and accountants preparing R&D tax claims
• General practice accountants who support innovative businesses and want to deliver R&D work with confidence
• Corporate tax teams preparing or reviewing claims
• Partners or managers responsible for managing firm risk and technical quality. 

Course level: Intermediate (with advanced practical insight)

This session is designed to be accessible for advisers that are new to R&D enquiries, but it also goes deep on defensibility, process controls and strengthening techniques that experienced advisers will value.