New R&D tax relief strategies

James leads our tax advisory practice, FB Consulting, providing award-winning R&D tax relief expertise to businesses and accountants. This can include modelling and forecasting, risk profiling and benchmarking, and advice on compliance and methodology for large corporates.

With a legal background and extensive experience dealing with HMRC, James brings incisive insights to tax disputes, developing strategies to achieve the best possible outcome for clients. For example, he successfully led ForrestBrown’s support for Quinn (London) Limited in a 2021 landmark tribunal case challenging the interpretation of subsidised R&D expenditure.

James and the FB Consulting team provide specialist advice, working alongside a company’s general advisers, including due diligence relating to R&D tax relief pre and post transactions and R&D in complex, international groups.

A solicitor who specialises in tax advice for corporates and individuals, with a focus on cross-border and international issues, James trained and qualified at a top London law firm before relocating to Geneva to help set up the firm’s Swiss office. On returning to the UK James worked in the tax team of a leading Bristol and London-based law firm, before joining ForrestBrown in 2019.

James has contributed commentary on R&D tax relief and tax disputes to publications including Bloomberg Law and International Tax Review.

Kelly is an associate director at ForrestBrown. She is a chartered tax adviser with more than a decade of experience, and a key part of our business growth team.

Since joining the company, Kelly’s skill and hard work have helped to deliver millions of pounds in R&D funding for ForrestBrown’s clients. Her focus is now on developing relationships with our accountant partners to help support clients’ goals. 

Kelly works closely with a wide range of the UK’s leading accountants, including top 50 firms, tailoring each relationship to optimise the value we can add to our partners and their clients. With specialist experience supporting firms with their own R&D tax service line, Kelly brings years of knowledge working on complex R&D claims. In addition to supporting claims raised by our partners, Kelly helps ensure they can accurately identify all the R&D activity within their client base. 

Kelly is passionate about working with ForrestBrown’s clients to access R&D tax relief and explore opportunities across the wider innovation toolkit.

After earning a BSc in Mathematical Sciences from the University of Birmingham, Kelly trained with a top accountancy firm and went on to specialise in R&D tax advice. She joined ForrestBrown as a tax manager in 2014 and progressed quickly into a senior tax manager role. Less than four years later, she became an associate director.

Adam is a chartered tax adviser and director at ForrestBrown. He’s responsible for driving the growth of our business by building long-lasting relationships with clients and partners, helping them to access innovation incentives to support growth and meet business objectives.

Adam began his career with Deloitte in 2006, then worked at a consultancy in Bath, gaining valuable experience with leading entrepreneurs.

With over a decade of tax experience, Adam has advised hundreds of clients on their R&D projects. His expertise spans startups, SMEs and large corporations. Coupled with a true passion for innovation this means that he is perfectly placed to deliver value for our clients.

Working across our R&D tax credit practice and business growth team, Adam is always looking for opportunities where we can go above and beyond and offer additional value.

Adam’s desire to see our clients succeed extends beyond initial claim preparation too. He offers guidance on how to use the R&D incentive strategically, so clients can look forward and make the changes they need to truly embed innovation within their business. He also helps businesses explore the wider innovation toolkit, from funding for startups to investment incentives for large corporates.

Alex is a qualified chartered tax adviser with more than two decades of experience in Big Four firms. A director at ForrestBrown, Alex is passionate about advising UK businesses on how to use innovation incentives strategically to achieve their business goals. 

Before joining ForrestBrown in 2014, Alex gained extensive experience with Deloitte and worked for nine years as a senior tax manager with PwC, where he worked with a range of companies from startups to large brands. He specialised in providing tax advice to individuals and companies who operated across international borders.

Since joining ForrestBrown, Alex has played a significant role in the company’s growth, both by supporting our clients and working with our strategic partners, including industry associations and accountants.

ForrestBrown’s goal is to build long-term relationships with clients and partners based on trust and expertise. Alex also wants ForrestBrown to be recognised as the R&D provider that is the best in the UK, both technically and ethically, while also supporting businesses to access a wider range of innovation incentives.

Peter specialises in capital allowances and leads ForrestBrown’s support for clients who buy, sell or incur expenditure refurbishing commercial property to optimise the tax reliefs available.

Previously a tax partner with a top 10 accountancy firm, Peter joined ForrestBrown in 2023. His in-depth knowledge of capital allowances provides further support for the innovative businesses we work with, helping to ensure they are fully rewarded for their investments.

Having started his career in the construction sector where he managed high profile projects throughout the UK and Europe, Peter combines a wealth of industry experience with technical tax knowledge to deliver pragmatic advice backed up by a deep understanding of how buildings are put together.

This mix of direct industry experience and technical tax expertise also enables Peter to structure fixed asset programmes that translate effectively for tax and accounting purposes. His approach delivers consistent, accurate information to financial teams, removing the risk of misinterpretation.

Peter draws on his experience working with FTSE100 and multinational companies across sectors including hospitality, retail, engineering and manufacturing to support ForrestBrown clients with tax reliefs relating to their investment in commercial property. Working alongside our grant advisory team, he also supports multinational businesses considering inward investment in the UK.

Karim works with large businesses, exploring all elements of the innovation toolkit, from R&D tax relief to grant funding. He takes a forward-looking approach, identifying opportunities which align with client projects and objectives.

Having previously led decarbonisation grant advisory for a Big Four firm in the UK, Karim joined ForrestBrown in 2023. His in-depth knowledge of grants provides further support for the innovative businesses we work with, enabling them to explore a wide range of funding opportunities.

Karim is a chartered engineer and gained more than five years’ experience as an engineering consultant and project manager for major infrastructure clients before specialising in innovation incentives. He has subsequently helped companies access millions of pounds from grant funding bodies such as Innovate UK, the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, and Scottish Enterprise in sectors including aerospace, energy and manufacturing.

Through this combination of technical and finance expertise, Karim is well placed to advise businesses on their eligibility for innovation funding and the most appropriate projects for which to seek funding support, at the same time contributing to meeting some our biggest societal challenges.

At ForrestBrown, Karim has also supported multinational companies seeking to invest and create jobs in the UK, for example securing government support for the location of new manufacturing facilities.