One of the UK’s leading tax incentive and innovation management advisers, RDI Solutions’ (RDI) industry specialists manage over £120 million of tax incentives annually for a broad range of UK-based clients, including some of the world’s biggest brands. In light of the company and its team of more than 100 experts achieving extraordinary success within the Global Tax Awards 2022, we got in touch with Interim Commercial Director, Kevin Guest to learn more.
Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credits are a UK Government incentive designed to boost innovation across various industries. RDI Solutions’ purpose is to determine if a client has an eligible project through an initial consultation, and where applicable, work with them to piece together the relevant information and data in order to prepare a report to be submitted to HMRC for review. This report must meet strict guidelines, and RDI’s team of industry experts and accountants ensure each and every claim meets the published relevant criterion.
RDI’s professionals came together to form the company in 2019, drawing upon relevant industry and innovation experiences which go back as far as the year 2000. Kevin Guest tells us, “As a relatively young business, which has grown rapidly, we are lucky to have been able to take the time to assess our “raison d’etre” as well as our culture.” As such, the company has updated its key statements as part of its strategy refresh:
Its vision statement is to build the best compliant solution to support the claiming of tax relief so that SMEs and corporates can focus on what they do best: selling their services. Then, the mission statement is to remove the hassle, complications, and uncertainty of managing business tax relief claims.
Kevin says, “Our culture has changed from being a friendly “family-type” team, to a professional community of practitioners working together under a common strategy. Indeed, our new strategy encompasses how we will work symbiotically with our people, our clients, our service-providers, and the relevant authorities.”
So, how does the R&D Tax Credit application process actually work?
To begin, RDI’s specialists will undertake an initial free of charge consultation with the client, which is a rather comprehensive assessment that enables the team to identify eligible projects which often, at first glance, may have not been considered. They will look to understand the client’s business, thus maximising the claim potential by utilising industry sector experts to verify eligible projects. Then, a report will be built by RDI’s expert technical writers which meets the BEIS and CIRD guidelines. In doing this, various internal compliance checks are employed in order to ensure all claims are stress tested against these guidelines. Lastly, the client will be able to approve the report prior to it being submitted to HMRC.
During this tried and tested process, the RDI team ensures the client understands the legislation with regard to tax incentives, as Kevin explains, “Our no nonsense, simple consultations guide the client through what is a complex process. Our years of experience, as well as industry awareness, allows us to painlessly extract key information without it feeling overwhelming.”
He elaborates, “It is important to do the job right the first time, so our methods are detailed, rightly onerous on us, but further, our internal audit gateways are key to ensuring we continue to build our reputation as one of the best in this industry.”
And by ensuring work with clients is done to a high standard, a lot of new business is acquired through word of mouth, recommendations, and a growing network of happy clients, as Kevin says, “Client retention is a key agenda item for RDI. We place a lot of importance on client satisfaction which can be seen through our endless list of testimonials.” So, RDI’s role is simple: maintain the standard, ensure client satisfaction is high.
Indeed, one delighted client’s five-star Trustpilot review rates RDI as “one of few agents in the field who deliver everything as promised”. They continue, “Professionalism and service at the top end of the scale. Faultless delivery with exceptional results. Looking forward to working with this team again in future. A huge thank you to my dedicated handler within the team, Mr Naim Mahmud. There’s not a single hurdle that he could not overcome; he is confident in every manner. Highly recommended!”
Another glowing review comments, “Great service. I was so happy with how fast they got the claim sorted, and it really saved me during this pandemic. Never knew what I could achieve with my R&D. Went to a few others before being introduced to RDI; none of the others could get it done as good as RDI has done. Great job. Thanks guys.”
Also pleased with their experience, another client shares, “My application was handled very quickly and efficiently. Great customer service and always updated me on a timely manner as guaranteed. I was fully informed at every step of the process and they successfully achieved the goal. Couldn’t recommend these guys more highly enough!”
Clearly, RDI is highly successful, although that’s not to say that it doesn’t have its challenges. Operating in this constantly evolving market, it has to work hard to stay ahead of the curve. Kevin notes that the market is evolving in several ways, with more competitors appearing all the time, competitors coming together, competitors folding, as well as changes in government policy regarding R&D incentives.
Not only all this, but the industry is trying to digitise – However, there is no solution presently available to interpret the detail that sits behind or within submitted reporting accounts, with Kevin saying, “This needs the human touch to tease out the relevant information and then needs to be verified and assessed for eligibility in accordance with the strict guidelines.”
Ultimately, RDI’s focus indeed remains on serving clients to the highest standard. Kevin states, “We continue to invest in our internal capabilities in the back office, increasing the number of technical writers, and personnel operations, audit, and finance. We have also invested in new internal systems that allow us to manage the client in a more structured end-to-end journey.”
This includes the areas of an improved website and digital leads creation; an improved internal end-to-end data capture and capabilities; improved payment processing solutions; and data and cybersecurity upgrades in line with ISME standards. In addition, the company is to continuing to practice and strive towards ISO27001 standards.
This will all support the bright future that RDI Solutions inevitably has ahead of it, with Q1 already being busy due to end of year submissions and a new tax year. And we are truly rooting for the firm as it continues to deliver a service that is second to none and makes the business dreams of its clients a reality.
For business enquiries, contact Kevin Guest from RDI Solutions via email – [email protected] or on their website – www.rdisolutions.co.uk
