How To Choose an R&D Tax Adviser

HMRC's compliance crackdown has made the adviser you choose matter more than ever. Error and fraud rates in the R&D scheme have fallen sharply since 2020, but that's largely because HMRC has got much better at catching poorly prepared claims. A weak claim now carries a genuine risk of an enquiry, and it's the company, not the adviser, who deals with the consequences. So, what actually separates a good adviser from a bad one, beyond the headline fee?

Why the adviser you pick matters more than it used to

Between 2020-21 and 2023-24, the estimated error and fraud rate in the SME scheme fell from 16.7% to 7.8%, and the value of non-compliant claims dropped from £1.2 billion to £475 million. HMRC has achieved that by roughly quintupling its compliance staff and introducing new checks at every stage of the claim process.

Poor advice creates compliance exposure that sits with your company long after the adviser has been paid. If a claim is challenged and found to be overstated, you're the one repaying the credit, and potentially facing penalties and interest on top.

The R&D advisory market has historically been unregulated, unlike accountancy or law, where professional bodies set standards and enforce them. That's changing. HMRC now requires advisers to be registered and expects agents to meet published agent standards, which includes having good tax standing and registering with an Anti-Money Laundering (AML) supervisory body. HMRC’s own data shows claims from affiliated, specialist agents are more compliant than those from unaffiliated ones.

What adviser options are available?

Before comparing individual firms, it's worth knowing what kind of adviser you're actually choosing between.

Broadly, there are five routes:

• Specialist R&D tax advisers. Firms whose core business is R&D tax relief. They provide an end-to-end service: technical interviews, documentation, costing, submission and enquiry defence, usually through a named team who manages the whole relationship.
• Software solutions. Guided platforms, such as Tax Cloud and EmpowerRD, walk you through the claim with structured questions. Costs are lower than full consultancy, but the level of expert review, and whether enquiry support is included, varies significantly between providers.
• Accountants. Your existing accountant may offer R&D tax as an add-on alongside statutory accounts and compliance work. This can suit straightforward claims, though R&D is rarely their core specialism.
• Funding consultants or finance generalists. Some broader consultancies handle R&D tax credits alongside grants or other funding work. Useful if you already have a relationship with them, but worth checking how much dedicated R&D technical depth sits behind the service.
• DIY. Handling the claim entirely in-house, with no external fees but full responsibility for technical accuracy, costing and compliance.

Each route sits on a different point of the cost-versus-support spectrum, and the right one depends on how complex your R&D is, how much internal capacity you have, and how much risk you're comfortable carrying yourself.

Our full breakdown of consultancy, software and DIY covers the costs and trade-offs of each in more detail.

What qualifications and experience should they have?

Look for named technical staff with sector-relevant R&D experience, not a large sales and marketing team with minimal staff working on the actual claims. Ask directly how many claims they've prepared, and in what industries. A team that has worked across manufacturing, software and engineering will spot qualifying activity that a generalist might miss, or wrongly assume qualifies.

Favour established firms or individuals with a track record of several years. The lack of regulation in this space historically attracted a wave of firms looking to profit from unfamiliarity with the rules, some of which HMRC has since targeted directly in its compliance campaigns. Longevity isn't proof of quality on its own, but it's a reasonable filter.

A generalist accountant offering R&D tax as an add-on service isn't automatically the wrong choice. Some are genuinely capable, particularly for straightforward claims. The distinction is whether R&D is a core specialism or a sideline, and whether they can demonstrate the technical depth to back it up.

How do they charge, and what does that incentivise?

Fee structures shape adviser behaviour, so it's worth understanding what you're actually paying for.

• Contingency or percentage fees. The adviser takes a cut of the credit secured. This keeps costs proportionate for smaller claims, but it can also push an adviser toward inflating the claim value, which increases enquiry risk. Tiered percentage rates, where the rate reduces as claim value rises, avoid penalising companies simply for running larger projects; this is Myriad's standard fee structure.
• Fixed fees. These align the adviser's incentives with yours: they're paid for accurate, efficient delivery, not for claim size. The trade-off is that a fixed fee can be out of reach for very small claims.
• Software solutions and generalist accountants. These often price lower on a percentage basis, sometimes with a minimum fee attached, or charge hourly rates for R&D work sitting outside standard accounts preparation. Read the fee schedule carefully; a low headline rate doesn't always mean a low total cost.

What happens if HMRC opens an enquiry?

Ask this before you sign, not after a letter arrives. Is enquiry support included in the fee, or charged separately? Some advisers include HMRC enquiries in their scope of services, some don’t; you might find a more inexpensive rate without this specific support, but the trade off is having to pay (either for the adviser’s time or with your own in-house resources) if you do find yourself on the receiving end of a compliance check.

It's worth asking what work is done during claim preparation specifically to prepare for a potential enquiry, rather than treating enquiry defence as an afterthought.

How do they build the technical narrative?

Ask whether the adviser interviews your technical staff directly or takes documentation and evidence and writes around them. A robust technical report depends on genuinely understanding the R&D that was done, not just categorising projects against a template.

Each project needs to be assessed through a qualifying R&D lens by both the adviser and the team who actually did the work. The project team's own account of what they were trying to achieve, and where the technical uncertainty lay, is the foundation the whole claim rests on. Ask how documentation, evidence gathering and record-keeping are handled during this process; this is the difference between confidence and uncertainty if your claim faces a compliance check.

How do they build the financial and tax elements?

Costing methodology matters just as much as the technical story. Ask how costs are gathered and apportioned, particularly where staff split time between R&D and non-R&D work.

Confirm whether the adviser handles submission as well as preparation. There are several forms involved beyond the claim itself, including the Additional Information Form and, for first-time or lapsed claimants, the claim notification form, alongside the CT600 and tax computations. Costing evidence and apportionment need to be robust enough to defend, since you'll need to provide information on both your costs and your projects as part of your submission.

Questions worth asking before you sign

Use this as a practical checklist in adviser meetings:

• What is your fee structure? Is it contingency, fixed, or tiered? Is there a minimum fee?
• What are your payment terms?
• Is HMRC enquiry support included, and what does that cover?
• Will I have a named point of contact throughout the claim?
• Does your team have sector and project experience relevant to my projects? Can you share case studies or examples of similar claims?
• What professional accreditations does the firm hold?
• How long has the firm been established? How long have your team been working in R&D tax credits?
• What is your claim success rate, and how many of your claims have faced an HMRC enquiry? What were the results from the enquiry?
• How do you handle grant-funded or subcontracted R&D, or other complications specific to my claim?

How does Myriad measure up?

It's fair to apply the same framework to Myriad.

Myriad has been established since 2011, and its team hold ATT, CGMA, CIMA and ACCA accreditations. The firm's specialism is software, though its claims span other sectors too, including engineering, manufacturing, medical devices and pharmaceutical projects.

On fees, Myriad uses the tiered percentage structure, so larger claims aren't penalised simply for being larger. More information on our pricing can be found on our pricing page.

Every claim is assigned a named Technical Analyst/Writer and a Cost and Tax Associate, so clients have consistent points of contact rather than being passed between departments as the claim progresses. These two team members specialise in the different aspects of the claim, so you can trust their expertise on the technical narrative or the finance totally.

In more than a decade of claims, only one HMRC challenge has been upheld; the rest have been defended successfully. That track record is also part of why companies who aren't already Myriad clients approach the firm specifically for HMRC enquiry defence.

Enquiry support isn't an add-on: Myriad's zero-risk offer means any claim it submits is defended free of charge. If a claim is rejected, no fee is charged at all; in fact, Myriad will pay any penalties applied and contribute to your time spent on the claim’s defence.

Myriad works across both R&D tax credits and R&D grants, so it understands how the two interact. Our experience across small and large claims of all kinds means we know how to handle the intricacies of the R&D tax credit scheme, from subcontracting costs to claims that cross periods with different rules.

Choosing carefully now avoids problems later

The adviser relationship outlasts the claim itself; you'll likely be relying on the same team for years of future claims, and potentially defending past ones. If you're comparing R&D tax advisers, don't leave it to chance. Contact Myriad to see if we can meet your needs.