Could there be a smarter way to prepare R&D tax claims?

Mike Dean, Managing Director, WhisperClaims

Mike Dean is the MD and co-founder of WhisperClaims an award-winning UK-based fintech company delivering R&D tax claim preparation software and expert-led wraparound support services to accountants.

To date over 2,800 claims have been prepared by accountants using WhisperClaims to deliver an in-house R&D tax service for their clients, representing over £400 million of eligible spend.

Passionate about the digitisation of business processes, especially advisory services, Mike is your go-to for questions on the R&D tax scheme and how to get the most out of using our technology.

any are asking themselves if their clients’ claims will pass muster, and whether there’s more they could be doing to ensure that their processes are good enough to withstand scrutiny from HMRC.

Alongside this looms the spectre of April 2023 changes to R&D tax legislation kicking in, company year-ends, personal tax returns, and R&D claims with hard deadlines all piling up. Times like these make it difficult to find the time to dot the ‘i’s and cross the ‘t’s; even with the most robust of manual or outsourced processes, errors can creep in.

Controlling the process

Having a robust process that is applied in the same way every time, for every claim, is key to preventing errors. This could be achieved through manual processes, however experience tells us that in any process the weak point is people. People can be inconsistent, rushed and forgetful—often convincing themselves there’s no need to follow processes, especially given the other pressures of running a busy firm.

So, how can accountants ensure that claims are produced consistently, even during the busiest times of the year? In short, software automation! WhisperClaims’ R&D tax claim preparation software is designed to ensure consistency of process and output. The question set is dynamic and flexes depending on the data being input, providing a structure to help guide the conversations between accountant and client. Questions can’t be forgotten or skipped over, so accountants can be certain that the data has been reliably gathered.