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FAQ's

Find answers to frequently asked questions about RDvault and how it makes it easy to claim R&D tax credits.

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R&D questions

It’s very simple.  You don’t need to – the software does it all for you. Tax calculations can be complex, and RDvault’s intelligent tax computations works out everything from SME to RDEC, whether to surrender the losses or use the enhanced expenses to reduce your total taxable profits of the company.  

The RDvault dashboard also gives you a simple and clear visual of all your R&D tax credit claims – making it easy to understand the value of your R&D claim.

HMRC aim to process all R&D tax credit claims within 28 days and in our experience can take longer depending on their workload. R&D claims which include the RDEC regime usually take longer.

Research and Development (R&D) for the purposes of R&D tax credits and tax relief  is when a company incurs expenditure to seek an advancement in science or technology. HMRC have a lot of guidance explaining the sort of activities which qualify. We’d suggest you take a look at the HMRC Corporate Intangibles Research and Development Manual CIRD80150 titled “R&D tax relief:introduction: overview” and the BIS Guidelines to give you a good grasp of the type of activities which qualify for R&D.

The tax legislation and CIRD manual discuss the different types of costs which qualify for R&D tax credits. As a quick overview, costs such as Consumables, Staff costs, Software and Subcontractors could qualify for R&D tax credits. Check out HMRC CIRD manual CIRD82000 to find out more. RDvault contains all the different possible types of allowable expenses which could qualify for R&D with detailed workflows to guide you through whether a particular type of cost would qualify or not.
Receiving a grant or subsidy doesn’t stop a company from making a claim for R&D tax credits or relief. Some grants limit projects to be claimed only under the RDEC regime, whilst others still keep the doors open to make a claim under the SME regime. RDvault will automatically work out whether a particular project qualifies under the SME or RDEC regime depending on type type of grant or subsidy a company is in receipt of and will calculate the R&D tax credits and tax relief available to your company. Check out HMRC R&D manual CIRD81670 for a good overview of the different types of grants and their impact on making an R&D claim.
RDvault’s unique project setup questions will guide you through exactly whether a company qualifies under the SME regime, RDEC regime (or both). By answering a few questions, our software will work all of this out for you.
RDvault’s intelligent tax calculator will work out exactly how much R&D tax credits and/or tax relief a company will be in receipt of. You just need to analyse your company expenses and RDvault will calculate everything for you.
HMRC usually require an R&D tax report containing both numerical and textual information of your company’s R&D projects. By working through the software and downloading the R&D report you should have everything you need to make a claim. Your accountants/tax advisors may need to submit the report together with the company’s corporation tax computations, and if you get stuck you can also speak to one of our many partners who’d be delighted to help!

Software questions

Our software is designed for both inexperienced and professionals to help them prepare R&D tax credits. Our uniquely designed RDvault workflows guides the user through the R&D tax legislation, covering the Corporation Tax Act 2009 and the HMRC Corporate Intangibles Research and Development manual. Our software has been developed by a team consisting of barristers, chartered accountants and chartered tax advisors making sure everything is compliant with the latest in tax legislation and HMRC guidance.
For the first time ever, you can now establish exactly how much R&D tax credits or tax savings you company is expected to receive, allowing you to plan your expenses and make insightful decisions without any unexpected surprises.
Companies can go as far back as two years to make a claim for R&D tax credits. For example, if your company has a December year end, then you can make a claim for the accounting period ended 31 December 2016, 2017 and 2018.. If your company has a March year end, then you can make a claim for the 2017 and 2018 accounting periods.  In this example, the company is out of time to make a claim for the period ended 31 March 2016. Our software will look up your company details on Companies House and suggest the accounting periods which could qualify under the R&D credits. You’ll also have the opportunity to insert your own accounting period should the need arise of course.
RDvault will take into account the corporation tax rates, loss surrender rates, enhancement percentages and the RDEC values to give you an accurate value of your R&D tax credits. The RDvault tax calculations page details exactly how the figures have been calculated and also give you the opportunity to adjust the total taxable profits and losses and the PAYE/NI values for RDEC purposes should the need arise. RDvault does all the heavy lifting of all the tax calculations so you don’t  have to!
By using RDvault, users are able to save time making a claim. With no need to monitor expenses, or mess around with spreadsheets an average startup company can make a claim within just 2-3 hours from start to finish. Well seasoned accountants and tax advisors will be able to prepare R&D claims without having to use multiple sources of different information. Its all in one place with RDvault, saving you time and money.
The dashboard gives you a visual view of the progress of your claim. You can now for the first time graphically see the expenses allocated to your R&D projects, how they translate to R&D tax credits and tell you exactly where you’re up to with the finalisation of your R&D claims. We even provide you with a graph showing you how you’re company’s profits are doing too!
Keeping your data secure is very important to us. That’s why we’ve used the latest security features available with Amazon Web Services and the latest SSL encryption technology to give you (and us) the peace of mind your data is secure.

Xero questions

We get you connected to Xero in just 3 simple steps. Check out the link here.

Disconnecting from Xero is super simple. Just click on the link here and we’ll talk you through it in just a few steps. 

Keeping connected with Xero is really important. By connecting with Xero all of your company transactions are kept up to date. You’ll have access to the income and expenses, and we even track any changes you make to expenses from Xero. This also means we automatically track the profit and loss of your company, making sure you have an accurate view of the R&D Tax Credits you’re entitled to.
The Xero connection is always connected with our application unless you disconnect your company in RDvault from Xero or if something goes wrong (which very rarely happens). You never need to refresh any credentials and our users only need to set up the connection once – and that’s it.
RDvault only ever downloads data from Xero and we never add, remove or edit any data including financial information on your Xero account. We simply download all the company transactions so you can view a breakdown of your nominal codes and start analysing them for R&D tax credits purposes. Your data is 100% secure using the latest in Amazon Web Services technology – similar to Xero!

Other questions

We never share, edit or change your financial data. And it never leaves our secure servers!