HM Revenue & Customs: Enquiry support service for R&D tax credits

Jenny is a chartered accountant with almost 20 years of experience working in tax. In that time, she’s worked on R&D tax relief claims for some of the UK’s best-known innovators, from big pharma to vehicle manufacturers to household FMCG brands.

As one of the UK’s leading R&D tax policy experts, Jenny often helps our clients with specialist insight and highly technical queries related to the incentive. She works across the business, helping ForrestBrown’s teams deliver cutting-edge services to UK businesses. 

Jenny holds a seat on HMRC’s R&D consultative committee. She is a passionate advocate for UK businesses, helping to deliver positive changes to policy and setting the agenda on R&D tax relief.

Most recently, Jenny worked with, among others, the Chartered Institute of Taxation, UK Research & Innovation, Creative Industries Federation and the Confederation of British Industry on a comprehensive response to the government’s wide-ranging consultation on R&D tax reliefs.

With a keen interest in professional standards, in 2019 Jenny initiated the CIOT/ATT working group that drafted the Professional Conduct in Relation to Tax (PCRT) guidance for R&D tax credit advice. This guidance is endorsed by all of the major accountancy and tax bodies and sets the standard for all professionally regulated R&D tax advisers, helping to ensure that UK businesses will be able to claim the incentive with confidence for many years to come.

Jenny chose to specialise in R&D tax in 2007 and before joining the ForrestBrown team, accumulated significant experience, including a decade with KPMG.

James heads up ForrestBrown’s advisory practice. His team offer specific aspects of ForrestBrown’s award–winning R&D tax credit expertise on a consultative basis to businesses and accountants. This can mean support resolving an enquiry, risk-assessing a claim or help setting up effective processes to create robust R&D claims.

James’s background is as a tax lawyer and alongside his leadership of our advisory team, he is particularly focused on assisting clients who use our HMRC enquiry support service. With over a decade specialising in tax, he provides an incisive legal perspective when deciding upon initial strategy and in pursuing a negotiated settlement.

James trained and qualified as a solicitor at a top London law firm, before relocating to Geneva for four years to help set up the firm’s Swiss office. His brief meant that he was involved in a large number of voluntary tax disclosures to HMRC, as well as advising clients on HMRC enquiries and discovery assessments.

On returning to the UK, James worked for a second leading UK law firm, before joining the ForrestBrown team. James brings invaluable legal insight to our enquiry support and wider client services.

Before joining ForrestBrown, Malcolm worked for HMRC for 26 years. Most recently this was as an inspector of taxes within their Portsmouth R&D unit. He is a highly experienced tax professional who plays an important role in our quality assurance process. This ensures our R&D tax credit claims are fully optimised and in line with HMRC guidance.

As well as reviewing of claims, the team uses Malcolm’s considerable first-hand knowledge of HMRC to drill down into issues that could complicate a claim. For example, grant funding or whether a company qualifies for SME status. His early intervention aids clear communication with clients.

His experience at HMRC extends to other areas of tax such as capital gains and employer compliance. This is invaluable for our clients as it helps us to consider the bigger picture, and advise if there are any other issues that could disrupt an R&D tax credit claim.

Beyond his quality assurance role, Malcolm is active in our in-house training programme – the Learning Lab. This helps to bring the next generation of tax professionals through. He covers topics such as HMRC’s structures and processes. Malcolm also supports our partners, such as third-party accountants, with technical expertise.

Mark was one of the original tax inspectors assigned to the specialist HMRC R&D units when they were formed in 2006. And he worked in the Croydon unit until 2018. He helped companies use the incentive and ensured they followed the rules. The wealth of experience Mark accumulated is now delivered to ForrestBrown clients through our enquiry support service.

Having been at the tax authority since 1984, Mark actually specialised in HMRC enquiries long before his time at the R&D unit. In 1990, his principal role became conducting full enquiries into companies. This included those who had made honest technical errors and, in more serious cases, those suspected of committing tax avoidance or evasion.

Mark’s technical knowledge of the R&D tax credit legislation is vast and means his experience encompasses the broader tax landscape as well as HMRC’s enquiries processes. With this knowledge, Mark is well placed to provide expert advice on how best to resolve an enquiry.

In addition to his work in enquiry support, Mark contributes to our in-house development programme, the Learning Lab. By sharing his knowledge and experience he helps the next generation of tax professionals at ForrestBrown to thrive.

With a master’s in Medical Image Computing from University College London, Tom is one of our sector specialists at ForrestBrown and his specialism is software.

Tom has a deep understanding of image processing techniques, applying mathematical and statistical formulae to large datasets and machine learning. He also has experience and knowledge of common software design patterns. Specifically, Tom is comfortable with MATLAB, C#, C++, Python, R!, JavaScript, HTML, SQL, SSRS.

As well as having years of experience within the R&D tax credit industry, Tom has held a range of technical positions spanning various industries. In E-learning he engineered tools to aid international broadcast of lectures. And in medical technology he helped develop an online CBT tool to help manage unhealthy lifestyle habits. His technical knowledge and experience is invaluable in optimising software R&D tax credit claims.

Peter is a chemicals and materials specialist at ForrestBrown and a chartered scientist. He supports the tax team in their work, in particular for companies in the chemical, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, engineering and food sectors.

Peter gained a degree in chemistry from the University of Nottingham. He followed up with a doctorate in organic chemistry with a focus on the development of novel chemical reactions. During this time he undertook several placements in the pharmaceutical industry.

After completing his studies, he worked at Mars as a chocolate scientist on formulations for improved shelf life. Peter then moved into the defence sector where he was involved in the development of a range of high performance materials. He has authored numerous papers and spoken at international conferences on the synthesis and characterisation of novel polymers and materials.

Notably, Peter has had a patent granted for a new heat and radiation stable polymer. And he has been awarded a Ministry of Defence chief scientific adviser commendation, recognising the high calibre of his research and development and strong international collaborations.

Peter is well-versed in the wide range of chemical and material characterisation techniques and modern manufacturing technologies. At ForrestBrown he applies his experience to support the R&D tax claims process, bridging between the technical detail and the relevant tax legislation.

After qualifying and practising as a solicitor, Anna accumulated more than 20 years’ experience within Big Four environments. She specialised in ex-pat tax and during this time developed a focus on managing HMRC enquiries for a variety of clients. At ForrestBrown, Anna is a senior member of our quality assurance team. She helps ensure that every R&D tax credit claim we submit meets our own high technical standards.

With a growing interest in innovation, Phil joined ForrestBrown in 2014 to work with our manufacturing and engineering clients. He trained at Cooper Parry in Nottingham and qualified as a chartered tax adviser in 2009. Phil then moved to Burton Sweet and later Hazlewoods, where he advised owner-managed businesses on personal and corporate taxation. He brings over a decade of experience to our team.