Wandsworth Consulting

It is always great to see our clients doing well and being rewarded for their hard work. Congratulations to Harwell Science and Innovation Campus getting this recognition! Well done Patrick Pringle and the rest of the team!

I can work from home any time I want or need to. 🏠 It's useful for me to get my head down for report writing, holding technical calls, or when I need a big screen to plough through spreadsheets of thousand of lines of project costs. 💻🤓 It's also useful for me to do the school runs, look after the dog and have snacks available whenever I need a screen break. 🐕🍪 But... there's something about being in an office that you just can't replicate at home. The buzz of others getting stuff done, the ability to collaborate in real-time and chats about nonsense across the desk - it's a completely different energy, and especially welcome on a Friday with the Wandsworth Consulting team and our shared work space. ⚡ Being able to flex, balancing periods of focus at home with moments of collaboration in the office keeps things fresh and productive. It’s the best of both worlds. 🌍 You can keep all those 'hybrid' roles that mandate X number of days a week in the office - I wouldn’t have my "wherever, whenever, however" role any other way; did I mention that it's 10 minutes from home? 😀 #flexibleworking #workfromhome #jonnybdoesrandd

Great insight from our very own Jonny Brewster; We have seen a lot of this over the last few months... #randd #hmrc #jonnybdoesrandd

A really good news story to finish the week, great work Jonny Brewster! This fantastic result was the culmination of moving very quickly on a project that our client thought was quickly going south before our involvement. Fair to say they are very happy with the outcome and as a result of that, we are too! If you know of anyone who has been affected by less scrupulous R&D advisors "exiting" the market, get in touch with our team! Wandsworth Consulting #randdtaxcredit #jonnybdoesrandd #hmrc #enquiry

Guess who's back...back again...Jonny's back...tell a friend(/R&D contact...!) Jonny Brewster #Wandsworthconsulting #randd #jonnydoesrandd

We are thrilled to announce that Simon Skinner has been promoted to Director here at Wandsworth Consulting. Congratulations on the well-deserved promotion and keep up the great work! #newposition #capitalallowances #wandsworthconsulting Jonny Brewster Justin Lyon Taylor Emily Cleaver Wandsworth Consulting

𝐑𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑&𝐃 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 Sourced through an 'anonymous email' and being echoed by unofficial confirmations - that a well-known R&D advisory group has ceased trading from a number of entities. If true, then naturally there's a degree of concern for their staff and customers; people will potentially have been left high and dry; there's talk of 100+ redundancies. Whilst it will have some impact on the R&D advice market, I suspect it won't have a huge impact on me, Wandsworth Consulting or a number of advisors that I know; speaking personally, I've never lost a client to that group, nor picked a client up from them either - it's safe to say we operate in different markets. It'll be interesting to see what happens next - some of the group apparently lives on; is it a question of time that's keeping it going, or a rationalisation in the face of HMRC challenges across the market? -------------------------------------------- If you liked this post: ♻️ Share it with others 💬 Comment on it 🫱🫲 Connect with me 🚶♂️Follow Jonny Brewster #️⃣ #jonnybdoesrandd and #randdtaxcredits

🔍 𝐑&𝐃 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬: 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞? 🔍 "𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘮𝘺 𝘙&𝘋 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦?" 🙏 I get asked this a 𝐥𝐨𝐭. 👀 The trouble is, a lot of R&D claim reviews are a one-size-fits-all process. That process can lead to wasted cash, an advisor inflating their ego or leave you with feedback that you don't know what to do with. 🙄 For us at Wandsworth Consulting, claim reviews lie on a spectrum, from: 🔬 The deep dive, tearing the claim and methodology to pieces, flagging all the ways that HMRC might challenge the claim; to 👃 The 'sniff test', giving a traffic-light signal on the risk level, so you can make an informed decision quickly. Clearly, the deep dive is much more work, and 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒕, which is why advisors roll out their 'tried and tested' claim review service. 🤑 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐈'𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 75% 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩-𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭. I know, I've done hundreds over the years. If it's not what you need, don't settle for the one-size-fits-all. 👎 Instead, let's tailor an R&D claim review that actually delivers the support you need, in a timescale you want, for a price that represents good value for you. 😇 If you happen to be at Accountex tomorrow and want to chat more for what we can do for you or your clients, just drop me a DM. #RandD #InformedDecisions #Insights #AccountexLondon -------------------------------------------- If you liked this post: ♻️ Share it with others 💬 Comment on it 🫱🫲 Connect with me 🚶♂️Follow Jonny Brewster, or #️⃣ #jonnybdoesrandd and #randdtaxcredits

My opinion of certain R&D 'advisors' has just reached a new low, with possible ramifications for businesses making claims with unscrupulous advisors... 👇 An accountant contact reached out to me as one of their clients had been targeted by a firm masquerading as R&D tax relief 'experts' - he wanted a second opinion as he didn't think the business should be claiming. 🤔 I took a look and it's not even close to R&D. Further, putting that claim in (notwithstanding the increased scrutiny in the current environment) would amount to more than a simply 'careless' filing. 🤯 So, one honest discussion later, the claim's not getting filed. You might think this is the end of the story, but here's where it escalates... ↗️ The advisor, apparently 'confident' in their claim, doubles down on their bad advice and is taking the claimant to court for breach of contract. They are demanding that the company hand over the fee that would have been due if the claim had been successful. 😱 So the client is left in a position of trying to decide whether to: 1️⃣ File a dodgy claim, pay the advisor and cross their fingers for no enquiry; 2️⃣ Not file the claim, give in to the advisor's intimidation and pay the fee to make it go away; or 3️⃣ Not file the claim and fight the advisor, racking up legal fees alongside the costs associated with the time and effort of fighting it. Clearly, Option 1 won't be happening - the accountant is too professionally responsible to his client for that. 😇 But the scariest part is that there will be businesses out there who choose to pay off the advisor out of fear and/or lack of desire for a legal battle - effectively giving the advisor a free cash payment with no risk of comebacks, and further dragging the reputation of R&D advice through the mud. 😢 #randd #randdtaxcredits -------------------------------------------- If you liked this post: ♻️ Share it with others 💬 Comment on it 🫱🫲 Connect with me 🚶♂️Follow Jonny Brewster, #jonnybdoesrandd and Wandsworth Consulting

🚨𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐑&𝐃 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞🚨 One of the key questions from HMRC's consultation on raising standards in the tax market is whether mandating professional affiliation for agents will help. 🎓 HMRC have conducted a review of 500 randomly selected R&D claims that shows: ✅ For affiliated agents, 20p in every £1 claimed is wrong. 🛑 For non-affiliated agents, this rises to 53p in every £1. This massive discrepancy is why HMRC think mandating professional affiliation is the way forward. 👿➡️😇 💡I do agree it's a good idea, but it's not the silver bullet on its own; advisors who currently file large number of non-compliant claims with HMRC won't be put off by having to register with a professional body and it doesn't provide enough of a disincentive to change working practices. On top of that, it creates the impression that a 20% non-compliance rate is 'good', when it's actually appalling - it's just less terrifying than 53%. 🤯 The industry should be aiming for low single figures of non-compliance; there will always be points of difference with HMRC but these should be the exception rather than a large proportion of claims. If you've got thoughts on affiliation or any other part of the consultation, drop me a line or speak to the team here at Wandsworth Consulting. #randdtaxcredits #randd #jonnybdoesrandd #hmrc #consultation