Changing R&D adviser without losing time.

The best time is before a claim is filed, so the new adviser can shape it, and the second best is before a deadline gets close. But there is no wrong moment to ask for a view. If you are unhappy with communication, the quality of the draft or the support after filing, say so early. We can review the position and tell you what switching would involve.

The draft or final technical report, the cost workings, any filed additional information form and claim notification, correspondence with HMRC and the engagement letter. The company's own payroll and invoices are yours already. Ask in writing, name the period, and give a date. We can draft the request. If something is withheld, we work from source.

Look at the term, the notice period, what happens to fees for work already done, whether support after filing is included, and who is to defend the claim if HMRC asks questions. We do not give legal advice on a contract, but we can tell you what we see technically and flag questions for a solicitor to answer.

The new agent is authorised by the company in the usual way, and we guide you through it. Every agent who advised on a claim, analysed costs, wrote technical reports or filed must be named on the claim notification and the additional information form. We make sure that is right on anything we are involved in.

There is no reason to think so. Companies change advisers for ordinary reasons. What HMRC looks at is the claim: the projects, the costs and the evidence. A claim that is well-evidenced does not become weaker because a different firm prepared it. The risk is a gap in the work or a claim that nobody properly owns.

Yes. A claim review tells you how the last claim stands up, whether it needs correcting and what a new approach would change. There is no obligation to move your work to us afterwards. You will have an independent view, signed off by a Chartered Tax Adviser, to base the decision on.

We tell you plainly, and we tell you what it means for each period. Some weak claims can be supported by better evidence. Some should be narrowed or corrected, and unprompted disclosure to HMRC generally leads to lower penalties. We never mention a problem to HMRC without your instruction, and we explain the options first.

It depends on what the previous engagement covered, which the engagement letter should show. If it did not include defence, or the adviser is no longer helpful, you can instruct us for the older claims as well as the new ones. We defend R&D enquiries on claims prepared by others, so past work is not a bar.

It might be, if the earlier claim included work that cannot be defended. We do not promise a figure before we have seen the work, and we do not inflate. We also look for costs and projects that were missed, so some claims grow. The aim is a claim that is the right size and can be defended.

We ask for the papers, review them, and talk to you and the previous adviser if that helps. We then agree a plan: what to keep, what to rebuild and what to correct. Your contact in our team keeps you informed. Nothing is filed or sent to HMRC without your sign-off.

Yes. We can take instructions from your accountant, with your authority, and keep you copied. If your accountant introduced you to us, we say so, and any referral fee we pay is disclosed to you. See our page for accountants for the arrangements. Nothing is filed without the company's approval.

Who writes and who signs off the claim? How are projects chosen? What evidence will you ask for? What happens if HMRC checks it, and is defence included? Will you be named as agent? What do you tell clients when a project does not qualify? A good adviser answers these without hesitation. Ours: a Chartered Tax Adviser signs off every claim.

Sometimes, but be realistic. The claim is generally due within two years of the end of the period of account, and the additional information form has to go in before or with it. If time is short, tell us at once. We say what can be done properly, and what cannot. A rushed claim is a risky one.

Yes, if one was filed. It records the projects described, the costs, the agents named and the intensity figures, and HMRC holds it. We compare it with the technical report and the claim, because inconsistencies are what a check starts from. If you do not have a copy, ask the original adviser for it.

No, you can talk to us in confidence first. When you decide to move, follow the notice terms in your engagement letter. We do not contact your current adviser unless you ask us to, and we do not share what we find. You may prefer to know your position before raising anything.