Partner Article

Tait Walker claims £16m of tax back for North East companies

North East accountancy firm Tait Walker has helped 125 of the region’s businesses claim £16m worth of tax back through the R&D (Research and Development) tax relief scheme in the last three years.

Led by Tax Partner Alastair Wilson, Tait Walker’s R&D tax relief specialist team has successfully submitted over 300 claims for its clients with a 100% success rate.

R&D tax credits are worth £30m to North East businesses every year, this money provides inward investment and financial support to a broad range of innovative companies based in the region. The rebates can be very valuable to businesses, for example Tait Walker secured a rebate of £1.1 million for a company operating in the oil and gas sector in 2015.

One of the region’s manufacturing success stories, Solar Capture Technologies, which researches and develops renewable energy solutions will be re-investing its tax rebate with the help of Tait Walker.

The company specialises in manufacturing custom solar modules, cells and systems, specifically crystalline silicon solar cell manufacturing, and are re-investing its tax credits into further product innovation. The R&D organisation was previously part of the National Renewable Energy Centre and now manages, maintains and utilises the centre’s facilities and has taken on the majority of staff, all who have extensive expertise in solar technologies.

Steven Caseley, chief executive at Solar Capture Technologies said: “Our focus at Solar Capture Technologies is developing and manufacturing concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) cells and we also provide R&D consultancy for this technology, along with other photovoltaic (PV) related technologies.

“The funds Tait Walker has worked to claim back for us allows us to stay at the forefront of innovation and renewable energy is evolving so quickly, we need to do this to be competitive.”

Tax partner at Tait Walker Alastair Wilson said: “Tait Walker’s R&D tax relief team specialise in dealing with claims like this and since more than 10,000 people in the region are employed in the Offshore & Marine Engineering sector, R&D is a large part of the North East’s economy.

“Companies like Solar Capture Technologies develop world leading technology and rely on R&D claims to help to encourage investment in new products, greater R&D staffing and further innovation.

“The government are currently assessing the future of R&D tax rebates so it is important that eligible businesses make the most of this opportunity while they can. Re-investing R&D tax credits gives us a great advantage as a region when one of our strongest industries is engineering and manufacturing.”

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