Jumpstart Leads On Customer Service

 

Jumpstart is delighted to reveal that its company-wide commitment to excellent customer service was recognised at the recent Scottish Business Awards.*

The UK’s leading R&D tax relief specialist, Jumpstart beat a host of household names, including GB Telecom, Cala Group and Enterprise Rent-A-Car, to the coveted Customer Focus Award in recognition of its strong customer focused culture, proven ability to meet and exceed customer expectations and their staff’s skills and knowledge in providing excellent customer service.

Speaking at the star-studded awards ceremony in May, which is by far the largest business event in the UK this year with over 2,000 leading business figures in attendance, Managing Director Brian Williamson said: “Jumpstart is perhaps best known for its industry-leading numbers, which won us the title ‘Scotland’s fastest growing business of 2013’**. So we were immensely pleased and proud to see our unstinting efforts in the less easily quantifiable, but equally important, area of customer focus formally acknowledged.”

“Five years ago, the newly established Jumpstart had just a handful of clients. Today we have over 500, with another 20 joining us every month, mostly through word of mouth. “Throughout that time, the customer has always been at the heart of everything we do. From initial approach to preparation of the R&D tax relief claim and follow up, all Jumpstart’s resources and internal processes are geared towards providing a customer experience that’s second to none,” continues Brian.

“Confirming that fact, this latest award*** is testament to the hard work and commitment that everyone at Jumpstart has demonstrated in the delivery of excellent customer service that consistently exceeds client expectations. We are clearly succeeding in our aim of ensuring that each and every client’s experience of working with Jumpstart is as rich and enjoyable as it is financially rewarding.”

“A huge thank you to all our clients and partners for giving Jumpstart the opportunity to demonstrate that we recognise our clients are the backbone of our business. We always have and always will go to great lengths to ensure you experience outstanding service and results through working with us.”

It’s only fitting we leave the last word with you. Read what more than one hundred very satisfied clients have said here.

* Staged annually, the Scottish Business Awards recognise and reward the contribution of businesses who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement.

** Business Insider magazine, Sprint 100 survey

 

*** Oops... since picking up the Customer Focus Award in the middle of May, Jumpstart has won yet another award. Watch this space!

Author - Laetitia Guichard

Video Games Tax or R&D Tax Relief ?

 

Which measure is best to maximise returns for your business? Can one affect the other? Can you blend the two? When can you claim?

 

Background

Creative Industry Tax Reliefs (CITR) are a group of four Corporation Tax reliefs. Film Tax Relief was first introduced by the UK government in April 2007 to promote the British film industry; followed in April 2013 by Animation Tax Relief (ATR) and High-end Television Tax Relief (HTR); and now, as of April 2014, video game developers can also claim Video Games Tax Relief.

 

The video games development sector is no longer dependent on console platforms to release and publish games, moving to online, tablet and mobile platforms, which means that SMEs are now more able to engage and control their own game production and publication, leading to greater levels of innovation in the sector.

 

Therefore this new tax relief is a welcome addition for this particular sector complementing R&D tax credits.

 

The Basic Rules

To be eligible for creative industry tax reliefs, game developers must be:

• Liable for corporation tax     
• Have a game in production that promotes British culture and values. (This will be determined by a ‘cultural test’) The project must be intended for public release at its inception (a failed project will still be eligible as long as it was intended for public release).    

Only UK expenditure can qualify for Video Games Development Relief and a minimum of 25% of the core expenditure from within the European Economic Area.

Furthermore, eligible expenditure is determined to be the lesser of UK expenditure or 80% of the qualifying expenditure and a 100% enhancement is added to this for the purposes of tax deduction.

 
On top of the basic rules there are more detailed rules and of course all are open to interpretation.

What Is Best – R&D Tax Relief Or Games Tax Relief?

It depends…there is no simple answer. The devil is most definitely in the detail however we are confident that the answer will be how to blend the two reliefs rather than pick one against another.

 

Here at Jumpstart we want to make sure we are providing the best advice on tax relief for all of our clients. We have taken a selection of our clients and are in the middle of analysing exactly how to optimise the return through both schemes and this will be complete in the next two months.

 

Why Is It Necessary To Work Through Some Practical Examples?

It could be possible for a company to make a claim under both the R&D tax relief and Video Games Tax Relief schemes, however the same costs cannot be included under both schemes (double dipping).

 

It is therefore essential to examine projects carefully to allow a strategic decision to be made as to which costs should be claimed under which scheme.

 

Decisions need to be based on the eligibility of work under each scheme and the financial implications for the company. Our role at Jumpstart is to advise our clients of the outcome of taking one route or another and to do this from a position of knowledge rather than guesswork.

 

The R&D tax relief scheme currently allows an SME to enhance all eligible R&D work by 125% and surrender available losses at 14.5%. The Video Games Tax relief allows an enhancement of 100% for eligible work, but companies are able to surrender available losses at 25%.

 

Finally, Do I Need To Decide Quickly Under Which Scheme To Make A Claim ?

As with the R&D tax relief scheme, the Video Games Tax Relief allows for claims to be made retrospectively any time up to 2 years after the end of a company’s accounting period.

 

Since the scheme was only introduced on 1st April 2014, and you have two years to make a claim and adjust your tax return retrospectively, this is not something you need to rush into.

 

However it is best to know your position as soon as possible. Our recommendation at Jumpstart is to have a detailed review within three months after your year-end and this means no earlier than the end of June 2014.

 

Tax relief is a hugely complex area and to help you understand what is best for you and your company you can enlist the help of an expert, Jumpstart, to ensure you have the right information, optimising the tax relief due to you.

Author - Laetitia Guichard

Loss - Making SME's Rejoice !

 

Finally, loss-making SMEs have something to smile about. Investing in cutting edge science, technology and engineering can be a thankless task, at least until you have established yourself and start turning a profit. So it’s good to know that, as of 2014’s Budget speech, loss-making SMEs have a new champion.

 

Reversing the downward trend of recent years, our ‘loss leader’ Chancellor George Osborne announced an increase in the rate of surrender of R&D losses for a tax credit, for loss-making SMEs from 11% to 14.5% for expenditure incurred on or after 1 April 2014.

 

What does that mean for you if you’re a loss-making SME? Well in a nutshell more money! If you’re numerically minded, follow the example below to discover how loss-making SMEs could be making claims up to one third larger on a like–for–like basis. If not, you might want to skip the next paragraph and go straight to what you could do with the dosh.

 

Okay, so imagine you’re an SME with losses of £100,000 and £100,000 of eligible R&D spend, according to HMRC’s definition of qualifying R&D activity. Under the UK Government’s R&D tax relief scheme, SMEs can deduct up to 225% of qualifying expenditure when calculating their profit/loss position for tax purposes, supercharging the R&D expenditure to £225,000.

Now comes the interesting bit… if the company chose to surrender its R&D related losses for a payable tax credit from HMRC, as it’s perfectly entitled to do under the scheme, it would receive 11% of £225,000 – or £24,750 – under the current, pre–2014 Budget rate. Post–2014 Budget, the company will receive 14.5% of its adjusted losses (if the expenditure incurred on or after 1st April 2014) – or £32,625 – almost one third more!

 

This extra money can be used for all kinds of things – from reinvesting in further development to funding expansion plans, even just easing the cash flow.

 

Complicated though the scheme’s legislation undoubtedly is, Brian Williamson of Jumpstart, the UK’s leading technical R&D tax relief specialist, says: “I would urge all loss-making SMEs – whether they think they qualify for the scheme or not – to look into this without delay. It doesn’t cost you a penny to get an expert opinion, but could be worth thousands of pounds.”

 

With the UK Government providing additional incentives for small and start-up businesses to invest in R&D and Jumpstart doing everything in its power to help companies claim the R&D tax relief and credit they’re entitled to, the present is looking pretty bright for loss-making SMEs in particular and UK innovation generally, never mind the future.

Author - Laetitia Guichard

Goliath, Meet David

 

For those of you interested in gaming, the shiny new generation of consoles arrived late last year. As gamers hunker down to complete every last level of the launch titles, we ask what’s next.

 

Over the last few years, the business of releasing AAA quality blockbuster titles has been getting more and more expensive. Creating detailed Full HD quality assets and the large-scale immersive worlds that gamers want to explore doesn’t come cheap.

 

Proving that the dreaded cash flow occasionally proves mightier than the sword, some of the big publishers are shying away from risky new ventures and relying instead on annual rehashes of so-called ‘safe franchises’, such as Call of Duty, Halo and FIFA. Gamers who don’t necessarily see the cost of development – only a lack of creative vision – aren’t happy!

 

Not for the first time, indie games development is coming to the rescue.

 

Sony, for example, is shouting about all the indie titles it’s supporting on the PS4, while the PS Vita has essentially become a portable indie game playing machine. Microsoft, meanwhile, announced its ID@Xbox program last year and is majoring on the potential to turn every Xbox One into a development platform for self-publishing.

 

AAA quality games are of course still being developed. That won’t stop, nor should it. But with the big players increasingly promoting indie developers and indie games as a benefit of choosing their platform, perhaps the David's of this world can re-inject a little creative vision and risk taking into the games arena that has been sadly lacking of late.

 

Me? I guess I’m part of the problem.

 

Titanfall here I come baby!!!

 

Lock and load ;-)

Author - Bryan Ford

Budget 2014

Encouraging business investment in R&D, cutting-edge Science, Technology and Engineering

 

In his Budget 2014 speech, Chancellor George Osborne announced further measures to support business and further economic growth, by encouraging Research and Development (R&D) and supporting investment into new, cutting edge technologies.

 

The Chancellor recognized that investment in cutting edge Science, Technology and Engineering was vital in making the UK more competitive internationally. 

 

To this effect he announced:

• The revision of the rate of the R&D tax credit for loss-making small businesses from 11% to 14.5%
• The increase and extension of the Annual Investment Allowance to 2015
• The establishment of new centres for doctoral training, for Cell Therapy and for Graphene.
• The establishment of the Alan Turing Institute for research into big data and algorithm.

Mr Osbourne said “If Britain isn’t leading the world in science and technology and engineering, then we are condemning our country to fall behind.”

 

At Jumpstart, we wholeheartedly welcome these budget measures, as they ensure the UK builds on its historically proven strength in Science and Technology to secure its long-term prosperity. 

 

R&D tax relief creates the right climate for enterprise and innovation, which are crucial factors in maintaining high and stable growth.


Author - Laetitia Guichard