Issue 1 - Launching ihorizon Sigma
One of our core specialisms at ihorizon is R&D and our tech start-up clients rely on our knowledge and expertise in this area. The very nature of their businesses means they are regularly raising investment and using those funds in the development of products and processes, and that means they can be eligible to claim for R&D tax credits.
Going through the process of claiming R&D tax credits is complex and requires a big investment of time from the core team and it is important that the correct supporting information is gathered and the most effective process followed. So we set ourselves the task of undertaking our own product development to build a platform that R&D stakeholders could use to make the process of compiling their claims as efficient and effective as possible.
Following several months of product build and user testing, we’re delighted to announce the launch of our new R&D system - Sigma.
Sigma is an online portal which enables increased collaboration between our clients and our R&D advisors to make the R&D claim process as painless as possible. It has been designed to follow a clear path, taking the user logically through a number of steps to collect the information required in a format that makes it efficient for us to make the claim on their behalf.
It has four key elements:
1. Tell us
Through a set of screens and question prompts, the user provides us with the required information on their R&D projects.
2. Collaborate
We undertake a detailed review and provide guidance where the information isn’t clear or sufficient, and give real-time feedback.
3. Prepare
We will liaise with your accountants (ihorizon or externally) and technical staff to prepare the relevant documents.
4. Submit
We submit the claim to HMRC and await your tax benefit.
Using Sigma will revolutionise the whole R&D tax credit claim process for our clients and we are really pleased with the results. We asked a few clients to put their claims through it before we launched and the positive feedback made all of our hard work worthwhile.
We are particularly pleased with some of the key features of Sigma because we know what a difference they make as part of the whole claims process:
- A single view of all claims past and present to provide users with the ability to track the claim process and provide a single version of the facts on all claims past and present. (See the example below.)
- Sector specific technical prompts based on the user’s development projects to painlessly extract the required R&D project information.
- In-built collaboration/commenting functionality to augment the automated process with the guidance of skilled technical experts in real-time. (See the example below.)
- Full data preservation functionality allowing the user to complete the information request in their own time and enabling the upload of relevant documents.
- An end-to-end process flow right through to the approvals process. (See the example below.)
Sigma product screen shots
1. A single summary screen showing claim/project details and status
2. Inbuilt commenting and document upload capability
3. In-built delivery approval process
Does your business undertake research and development as a core part of your strategy? Even if you aren’t sure if what you do as a business would be eligible for R&D, please get in touch with our Head of R&D, Said Bile at [email protected] and he can talk you through whether you could benefit from HMRC’s R&D tax credits. You never know unless you ask.
In 2020 we have so far helped our clients receive R&D tax credits totalling ￡10 million from HMRC and we’d be very happy to discuss your circumstances with you and give you an idea of your potential claim size. You could even put it through our brand new Sigma system.
For more information about ihorizon and how we work with our clients across all service areas, take a look here and get in touch.
Thanks for reading and supporting our launch. I hope you found this interesting.
See you for the next issue.
Tom