The agriculture sector is a critical asset for the UK economy and, now more than ever, the sector has an enormous opportunity for growth following the decision of the UK to leave the European Union.
In one of its latest publications, the Institute of Economic Affairs recommended and encouraged UK agricultural businesses to adopt a more positive approach towards new technologies and environmentally friendly practices to enhance the sector’s competitiveness. Agriculture research and development (R&D) is a crucial determinant of the sector productivity, which directly influences the food prices for us all.
Controversially, according to HRMC, the total amount of benefit from R&D tax credit applications for agricultural businesses accounts for less than 1% of all applications whilst the average relief is far lower than the national average.
On the other hand, agricultural businesses have historically sought and implemented innovative ways to enhance their productivity and profitability, which means there is a significant untapped opportunity to exploit the R&D incentive within the sector.
The question to ask at this point seems to be clear; why are agricultural businesses not taking full advantage of the relief?
Based on our experience, agricultural entrepreneurs and innovators are often unaware of the R&D tax credit incentive or simply misunderstand the concept of R&D from a tax context, strictly associating it with traditional tech and pharma developments.
One key cause for this is the guidelines provided by HMRC, which are extensive and complex for who are unfamiliar with the incentive. Therefore, business owners (experts in their respective field, but not in R&D tax) regularly struggle to understand the eligibility requirements, let alone compile a comprehensive report to submit to HMRC.
We highly recommend taking advantage of an R&D tax expert provider, such as Apogee Associates, to help your business taking full advantage of the relief, make the whole process simple and straightforward by compiling the report on your behalf, and ensure you access the most amount of relief net of fees.
You are likely to be eligible for R&D Tax Credits if you are conducting activities aiming to:
- Enhance the efficiency of water and energy consumption
- Improve processes efficiency through the use of technologically advanced machines
- Innovate using unique soil management techniques
- Reduce the use of natural resources without impacting yield
- Implement environmentally friendly countermeasures to disease, bugs and natural events
- Attempt to advance biotechnology
- Innovate through implementations of vertical farming processees
If you want to know more about the incentive and see if it could apply to you, reach out to our team of experts; we will be happy to offer you free of charge consultation to introduce you to the R&D relief and explore how you could benefit!
If you would like an expert team who are committed to sustainability to compile your R&D application, fill in the form below and one of us will be in touch!
