We sat down with Yasmin Lakin, one of EmpowerRD’s R&D Financial Consultants to learn more about her approach to claim reviews, what drew her to EmpowerRD, and where companies can tighten their financial compliance in the ever evolving world of R&D tax credits.
Can you tell us a bit about your role as an R&D Financial Consultant at EmpowerRD?
I focus on reviewing claim costs to ensure we’re only including R&D qualifying expenditure, but also to identify potentially qualifying costs that might have been overlooked by clients. I also check the accuracy of amended documents submitted to HMRC, giving clients confidence that their financials are correct and compliant.
You’ve worked at Source Advisors and Deloitte. How did those roles prepare you for your work in R&D tax relief today?
Source Advisors was my first introduction to R&D tax credits, so that’s where I gained most of my technical knowledge. While my main focus now is as a Financial Consultant, I’m also involved in reviewing narrative details provided by clients and final narrative drafts.
At Source Advisors, I spent a lot of time meeting with clients to discuss their projects and writing up their narratives. That’s really helped me provide detailed, useful feedback to clients today, helping draw out the most valuable information for our technical writers.
At Deloitte, I worked in another area of tax, but I developed a lot of transferable skills, particularly around legislation and how to research answers to complex queries, which has definitely carried over into my current role.
What attracted you to EmpowerRD, and how does our approach differ from more traditional consultancies?
It was EmpoweRD’s platform that really drew me to the company. There are a lot of inefficiencies in traditional consultancies, which can be really frustrating for both the consultant and client, but EmpoweRD’s platform has been designed to make the process of preparing the claim efficient without compromising on quality.
It also means I can spend more time focusing on complex cases and providing real value to clients. Since joining, I’ve seen how committed the team is to continuously improving the platform and the internal processes to deliver the best possible experience throughout the building of the claim.
What does your day-to-day look like when supporting clients with their R&D claims?
My core day-to-day involves reviewing claim costs and the initial narrative details provided by clients in the platform, and providing detailed feedback to the client to help strengthen the claim as much as possible.
I also provide another layer of quality review at the end of each stage of the claim, including the final narrative review and final review of the prepared CT600, tax comps and Additional Information Form (AIF).
A lot of clients also ask us to review amended financial documents prepared by their accountants, so I also spend quite a lot of time reviewing these and providing feedback, whether that’s identifying issues or confirming accuracy to give clients that extra level of assurance. I also sometimes have calls with clients when they have finance-related queries.
What are some common financial pitfalls or misunderstandings you see when reviewing claims?
A few come up regularly. One is excluding heat, light and water costs (these are qualifying but a lot of clients don’t realise and therefore don’t include them). Another is including individuals (staff, subcontractors or EPWs) at very high percentages or assigning the same percentage to all. That can raise red flags with HMRC.
In those cases, I will often ask the clients to review the percentages to ensure they have carefully considered these and are comfortable that they are an accurate reflection of time spent on qualifying R&D activity. It’s not to say that these costs aren’t accurate, but they do need to be justifiable.
How do you help clients navigate more complex areas like subcontractor costs, EPWs, or Innovate UK funding?
We do contract reviews to ensure third-party costs have been correctly categorised as EPWs or subcontractors, especially for RDEC claims and under the new merged R&D scheme. We also provide reviews for grant documentation to make sure we’re treating the associated costs correctly in the claim.
However, before it gets to the review stage, the CSMs play a really important role. They are great at having that initial conversation with the client, helping them understand what we need from them, which means by the time of the review, we’re normally in a great place.
With the recent R&D scheme reforms, what financial compliance areas should companies pay particular attention to?
Third party costs. It’s really important to ensure claimants are correctly categorising EPWs and subcontractors, as this directly affects what information needs to be included in the claim and how it should be presented.
What do you find most rewarding about helping companies secure R&D tax relief?
Helping clients draw out the most relevant information about their projects to really demonstrate the R&D they have undertaken. A lot of the time, the initial information provided by clients doesn’t do justice to the complexity of what they have actually done, so it’s really rewarding to see the progression of the narrative from the initial bullet points provided to the final project narratives.
And finally, outside of work, what do you enjoy doing in your spare time? Any hobbies or interests?
I have been doing aikido for a couple of years now and recently got my orange belt. I also enjoy spending time with my family and my niece in particular, doing jigsaw puzzles and watching horror films.
