Member Article

Vernier turns to tax claim firm

R&D Tax Claims has helped a small precision engineering company reclaim more than £38,000 in tax following a research and development HMRC claim.

Vernier Springs & Pressings of Redditch, one of the most modern spring manufacturing businesses in the UK, has received £38,850 thanks to help from R&D Tax Claims, headed up by managing director Mark Evans.

Claiming back tax from R&D activities is a government initiative introduced to actively encourage those SMEs who develop new and improved products or processes to reduce their tax bills.

R&D Tax Claims works on a no win, no fee basis, and Mark stresses that extensive rewards can be gained without risk and with the minimum investment of time. The firm offers a personal service with experienced consultants and tailor-made reporting, and as well as looking at historical claims, can help plan for future claims.

The company is an active patron of Made in the Midlands, the public voice of Midlands-based manufacturing SMEs, and to date R&D Tax Claims has helped 29 MIM members recoup an average of £142,000 each.

Vernier Springs & Pressings started trading in 1957, and with sales of more than £5m has grown into one of the most significant spring and press manufacturing businesses in the UK. Recent capital investments have improved CNC capabilities in order to manufacture a range of compression, tension and torsional springs and supply between 40-50 million pieces per year. The business has 60 employees across two sites in Redditch. Vernier was the first UK spring manufacturer to be awarded the ISO/TS 16949 award.

The company provides a ‘one-stop’ option for their biggest customers who include GT Windows, Stanley Black & Decker, Inteva and Kierkert with exports to France, Germany, Italy and further afield to USA, China, India and Mexico.

The firm became a Made in the Midlands member a few months ago, and saw an article in the MIM magazine highlighting the work and previous successes of R&D Tax Claims.

VS&P managing director Wayne Hawkins said: “There are probably lots of companies like ours just doing what they do, not realising that part of what they do is actually R&D.

“We saw an article about Mark and his work but we weren’t sure it was for us…”

Financial Controller Corin Davies continued: “It’s too easy to assume you won’t qualify, or that looking into a claim is not a good use of time. But after a call to Mark and an initial meeting, it turned out that a reasonable amount of what we do is R&D, and here we are just a couple of months later with £38,850 reclaimed and re-invested in our business. And the process was incredibly quick and simple.”

Mark said the biggest obstacle he faces is that companies believe the scheme is too good to be true – and will involve too much work and too much of their time.

But Wayne added that that simply wasn’t the case: “Very little of the work was done by us, and all in all the process only took about two months.

“I would certainly advise other firms to look into it. The tax benefits are significant and R&D Tax Claims will quickly advise if there is a good claim situation and manage the process for you.”

R&D Tax Claims has offices in Shrewsbury and Warrington. If your company is involved in any new product or process design/creation, then you may have a claim. For further information, contact Mark Evans on 0845 003 0140 or visit the website at www.rdtaxclaims.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sam Taylor .