Everyone at Lexmore worked at another R&D tax firm before joining us. We won't name those firms, but we won't pretend the experience didn't happen either.
At their best, the firms we worked for did careful technical reviews, had honest conversations about eligibility, and built claims that stood up when HMRC asked questions.
At their worst, sales targets drove the advice and claims were built around the fee rather than the facts. We saw routine work presented as innovation, costs claimed that had no connection to qualifying activity, and clients signing claims they didn't understand. When HMRC opened an enquiry, those clients were often left to deal with it alone, sometimes facing repayments and penalties.
Those of us who saw this up close didn't want to be part of it, and we left. Lexmore was built in direct response.
R&D is where we started, and it remains at the core of what we do. Patent Box and Employee Ownership Trusts are natural next steps for many of the businesses we work with: companies that innovate often go on to patent and commercialise what they've built, and owners who've built something lasting often want to pass it to the people who helped build it. The same standards apply across all three services. In practice, that means:
- Whether your work qualifies, or whether a scheme is right for your business, is advised by our technical and compliance team, not by the person who first spoke to you.
- More often than not, we tell businesses that their projects don't qualify for R&D Tax Relief. When that happens, we explain why, help them understand what would qualify, and give them a point of contact for future projects.
