How to Complete the Business Questionnaire Section

When completing your R&D claim on the EmpowerRD platform, you will be required to complete the 'Business Questionnaire' section. Here, you will need to provide your company information, including details about its status and structure. You will also need to provide us with some tax information, such as your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR), PAYE reference (if applicable), VAT number (if applicable) and your company's trading position.

It's important to get these details right, as this could impact your claim and which scheme it falls under. This is why we recommend that your accountant completes this section, as they are more likely to be familiar with the required information.

⬇️ In this guide, we will walk you through the questions asked in the Business Questionnaire, where you can find this information and why it is important for your claim.


Step 1: Company Information



For this question, you are required to provide a short paragraph outlining your company; this should briefly highlight the company's mission, its overall technological focus and any market dynamics you may face. You do not need to go into detail about these, but it is important to include these key aspects.


In Step 1, you are also required to provide your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR), PAYE reference and VAT number:




Where can I find my Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR)?

You can find this on the first page of your CT600 (company tax return). Alternatively, you can also find this in your tax computations. The reference should be 10 digits and this should have been issued to you via post after you registered for tax. 


Where can I find my PAYE reference?

You can find your PAYE reference in your P32 document or any letter from HMRC regarding PAYE. If you have added PAYE as a tax on your HMRC dashboard, you should also be able to view your reference here. The reference should include both numbers and letters, e.g.: '123/AB456' - this is made up of the 3 digit tax office number, a forward slash and a tax office employer reference (this can be up to 10 characters and could include numbers and/or letters).

Please note that if you are not liable for PAYE and therefore, are not registered for this tax, then you should enter '123/0000000'.


Where can I find my VAT number?

if you are registered for VAT, you should have received a VAT registration certificate; this should be 9 digits. If you have added VAT as a tax on your HMRC dashboard, you should also be able to view your VAT number here.

Please note that if you are not liable for VAT and therefore, are not registered for this tax, then you should enter '000000000'.


Step 2: Status & Structure




For this question, you are required to answer some 'Yes/No' questions. It is important to get these questions right, as your answers can impact which scheme your claim may fall under.


Is the company an SME?

‘SME’ refers to ‘small medium-sized enterprise’ companies. To qualify, you must meet the following requirements:

• You are a UK limited company.

• You have less than 500 staff.*

• Your total turnover does not exceed €100,000,000 or your balance sheet isn’t over €86,000,000.

⚠️ *When considering your total staff headcount, this should be based on the whole group, not the individual entity. If the 500 staff headcount has been exceeded, the individual SME company would then fall under the RDEC scheme.


Is the company part of a group?

You can evaluate whether you are part of a group through your investors and any connected companies you may have; you will need to determine what percentage of shares and voting rights they have in your company and if it is 25% or more, you will need to answer 'Yes' and provide some further details; these are confidential and only for the purposes of evaluating which scheme you can claim under. You can provide further details of the group structure within the provided text box.

💡 If you are owned by a larger company, you should also let us know about this - this may mean that you can only claim under the RDEC scheme.


Does the company undertake any IP related activities?

We need to understand if your company has undertaken any intellectual property (IP) activities, as this may impact your claim.

A company can claim an exemption from the R&D SME PAYE cap if it meets the exception in 'section 1058D' of the Corporation Tax Act (CTA) 2009.

• Patents.
• Trademarks.
• Registered designs.
• Copyrights.
• Design rights.
• 'Know-how' and trade secrets (UK or overseas equivalents).

 
Any grants, subsidies or customer funding received to fund R&D activities?

It is important to tell us whether you have received any grants, subsidies or customer funding, as this could impact which scheme your claim falls under. You should answer 'Yes' if you received any funding, even if this was before your claim period or it wasn't for a specific project. If you didn't spend all of your funding on R&D activities, you still need to confirm 'Yes' as the funding was received to support your projects.


Step 3: Accounts




What is the value of the company's turnover for this claim period?

You will need to confirm the overall value of your company's turnover for this claim period. It is important that we have this figure, as your company's turnover can help determine which scheme your claim may fall under. 


How many employees did you have in total during the financial year?

You should confirm how many employees you had during the financial year for your claim period; this can found in your payroll. Employees should be salaried staff, not subcontractors or externally provided workers.

It is important to confirm how many employees you had, as this can help determine which scheme your claim may fall under. To qualify for the SME scheme, your company needs to have less than 500 staff in total. If you are part of a group, this should be calculated across the entire group, not just the individual entity.


Did the company make a profit or loss during this claim period?

We need to confirm your company's trading position, as this will impact which scheme your claim may fall under. Your taxable trading profit or loss is the adjusted figure produced after any tax-relevant adjustments have been made. You can find your trading profit or loss in your CT600 (tax return); the trading profit is located in box '155' and the trading loss is in box '780'. You can also find your trading profit or loss in your tax computations; this is shown as your loss following the usual adjustments made before taxation.


Do you know how much wage/salary (via PAYE) costs are to be paid in this period?

You will need to confirm whether you know how much in gross pay you paid during your claim period. Gross pay should be before any tax or 'benefits in kind' deductions are made. If you select 'Yes', you will need to confirm the figure below:





💡 You should be able to confirm your total salaries paid via PAYE from your P32 document or payroll software. Unsure of where to find this? You should add your accountant or the individual responsible for the payroll to this section, they should be able to help you with this.


If you select 'No', you will just need to provide an estimate for now:




⬆️ Once you have completed all of the above, you can click 'Mark Business Questionnaire as complete' at the top right of this section.


Question not answered?

Contact us via email at claims@empowerrd.com or alternatively, send us a message via live chat.