Member News
BSI launches sustainability evaluator tool
Here at BSI, we have developed the Ability Evaluator for organisations planning their sustainability journey, and providing you with helpful information concerning key sustainability topics. BSI helps organisations to achieve their sustainability goals regardless of what stage they’re at on their journey. We actively support clients to advocate best practice, champion sustainability, and boost organisational resilience. This is demonstrated through activities such as working to achieve net-zero, pollution reduction, climate change mitigation, and environmental regeneration. Time is running out for businesses to act and do their part. BSI has a new tool to help you establish and achieve your sustainability goals.
stakeholder group. This isn’t anything new, as the industry has always been under a high amount of public scrutiny and as a result, driven to evolve, ever since the day it became a genuine commercial enterprise. Stakeholders, including customers, governments, and regulators, are becoming increasingly aware of the need to protect our planet. The responsibility that organisations face in playing their part is of paramount importance. In fact, according to Accenture’s ‘Commercial Aerospace Insight Report 2021,’ 70% of aerospace and defence executives see sustainability as a critical focus for the next five years, yet only 2% of organisations believe they have finished implementing or achieving their sustainability goals and that 38% of organizations haven’t even established what their sustainability goals are (2022 YouGov Survey). As an organisation, you have a responsibility to set your own goals. However, these can often be difficult to define and navigate.
As leaders in organisations across the world grapple with the forces reshaping our world, we find ourselves neading to learn from the past, ensuring we act in the present while trying to understand what may lie ahead. With uncertainty affecting many sectors, now is a good moment to take stock and understand what the future may hold, what will remain the same and what may be different in our futures for aerospace. Changes that we know we will see, brought about by increased awareness and a higher degree of social consciousness of society/ consumers—married with public demand for greater transparency, will result in all areas of aerospace being held to account. In a more digitally connected world, the challenge isn’t about merely fielding a problematic question around sustainability performance and goals and publishing a corporate report; companies need to ensure that they also come up with the answers to the difficult questions asked by a much broader and more informed
Upcoming changes to the R&D tax relief scheme
Your adviser will work with you to agree a process of ongoing in-year project review, as the six-month advanced notification could mean many eligible organisations are unable to make an R&D claim due to engaging accountants who are not experts in this specialist area of tax, and therefore opportunities to identify activities taking place in the year may be missed. If you would like to discuss the changes to the R&D tax relief scheme which are due to take effect from 1 April 2023, get in touch with one of our expert advisers by emailing enquiries@pmm.co.uk.
end of the period to which the claim relates’. If you are unsure whether you will make a claim, it’s worth submitting an advanced notification to HMRC, just in case, as there won’t be a penalty if the claim doesn’t go ahead. The requirement to provide prior notice of an R&D claim will only apply to new claimants, or organisations who have not made an R&D claim in the previous three years. According to HMRC guidance, there doesn’t seem to be any flexibility on the six-month notification period, therefore advanced planning and proactiveness will be required in identifying R&D projects as they arise and not as part of an organisation’s Corporate Tax Return preparation, which could be up to 12 months post accounting year-end.
From 1 April 2023, R&D tax relief is changing, following announcements in the 2021 Autumn Budget. But what do these changes mean for your business? The Research and Development Communication Forum (RDCF) recently met in July 2022 to discuss the upcoming changes, the most significant being: • Restrictions for businesses conducting R&D activities overseas • Inclusion of cloud computing and data costs in qualifying R&D expenditure • Increased focus on compliance and tackling abuse of the tax credit scheme • Requirement of a senior company officer to sign off R&D claims Perhaps the most notable discussion point at the RDCF meeting was the requirement for companies to inform HMRC of their intention to make an R&D claim ‘within six months of the
Take action
We would recommend speaking to your accountant if your organisation undertakes research and development and has not yet made an R&D tax relief claim.
Claire Astley Director – Corporate Tax claire.astley@pmm.co.uk
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@NWAerospace
plane talk autumn 2022
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