The now famous introduction to Star Trek, “to boldly go etc..” and also beloved of grammar nerds who frequently tell you that it should be “to go boldly” (wrong, there is no such rule in English; it was made up by someone in the 18th century who wanted to make English grammar conform to the rules of Latin, despite the language having Germanic roots.)
Anyway QI bit over, lets get back to the point. If you are venturing into uncharted territory with your products or services then you could be eligible for an early Christmas present from the taxman: Research & Development Tax Credits. I have mentioned these before (and will continue to do so) as they are very often overlooked by companies who think that they need to be doing cutting edge research.
Not so; using Star Trek as an analogy, you don’t need to discover new worlds and new civilisations, just find something out about ours that we didn’t know already.
For example in web development, there is a distinction between designing the site and actually making it work. Advances in web and software development is less about developing new features and functions. It is more about the processes that lie behind them. So integrating data systems in a new, or untested way, developing algorithms for onsite search, creating custom middleware, creating augmented reality experiences, and complex CMS* integration may all qualify.
One common misconception is that you have to be working for yourselves and it’s true that the client should be claiming, but that doesn’t stop you from doing it. Another one is that you can’t make a claim if you have received grant funding and it’s true that this limits things but will not stop you potentially getting something back.
If your not in web development have a think about what you do that is uncertain and would lead to improvements in some area or other if it worked.
Have a great weekend
Paul
* Content Management System