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Ashton & Carrington
R&D · Merged scheme

£96,000 back for solving problems no one had solved.

How a software company's platform rebuild qualified as R&D and produced a six-figure expenditure credit.

£480,000
Qualifying R&D expenditure
£96,000
Expenditure credit (20%)
c. £72,000
Net after Corporation Tax

The engagement

The company spent the year rebuilding its platform's core: a real-time processing engine that had to handle a tenfold increase in throughput without a tenfold increase in infrastructure cost. No published pattern fitted. The team prototyped, discarded and re-architected their way to a solution. To their accountants it looked like payroll.

Our approach

  • Scoping call with the CTO to map the year's projects
  • Short structured interviews with lead engineers
  • Payroll, cloud and subcontractor costs apportioned to qualifying work
  • Technical report and Additional Information Form delivered for the CT600

The result

Staff costs (qualifying proportion)
£372,000
Qualifying subcontracted development
£62,000
Cloud computing & data costs
£46,000
Total qualifying R&D expenditure
£480,000

How the credit is calculated

£480,000 × 20% = £96,000

Above the line, visible to the board and investors, and payable in cash where it exceeds the tax bill.

A real client engagement, anonymised to protect confidentiality. Figures do not constitute tax advice; outcomes depend on individual circumstances.

The work was already done and already paid for. The claim just made sure the company recognised it as R&D.

More outcomes

Related case studies.

Real client engagements, anonymised to protect confidentiality. Figures do not constitute tax advice; outcomes depend on individual circumstances.

Bijan Mohajer

Bijan Mohajer, Partner

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