Advising Rapierstar on R&D

Rapierstar specialise in the design, development and supply of technically advanced fasteners for window and door manufacturing and installation, along with high-quality fixings for timber, exterior decking, and roofline/fascia installation. Developing exclusive ranges of award winning and patented fasteners and fixings featuring its unique StarForm threads, specialist head styles and superior corrosion resistant plating.

Rapierstar’s uniquely innovative, technologically advanced range of fastener solutions is the market leader in the UK and Irish fenestration sector. With more than one billion individual components in stock at any one time and a UK stockholding of £7m to service the industry with on time in full next day deliveries.

Having claimed R&D tax credits for many years, Rapierstar were introduced to Gateley Capitus and made the decision to change provider and work with the team at Gateley Capitus.

“Over recent years Rapierstar has focused more resources on R&D and we will continue to invest in this area in order to provide a pipeline of potential new product ranges.” Explains David Furness, Managing Director. “Celebrating our 30th year of trading, we recognise the need to develop into new markets in order to maintain our growth. As the Government and HMRC refine their R&D support for qualifying businesses, it is important for Rapierstar to feel confident that we are getting the very best and most accurate advice with regards to R&D tax credits.”

After an initial introduction meeting to discuss and plan the claim delivery process in more detail, the Gateley Capitus and Rapierstar technical teams met on-site to identify the qualifying activities and discuss those projects in more detail. The technical team at Gateley Capitus were then able to take the information and structure this into a technical report to justify Rapierstar’s claim with HMRC. The qualifying financial information was collated by the Gateley Capitus team in conjunction with Rapierstar and their accountants, with further discussions to determine the correct qualifying expenditure to calculate the claim benefit.

“The team at Gateley visited our Cheshire premises working closely with our R&D team to fully understand each element of the project.” Confirmed David. “After interviewing our team in some depth, Gateley then created the technical report that would form the core of our final claim. Liaising directly with our FD, identifying each legitimate qualifying cost, whilst also coordinating with our accountants for the relevant payroll data and subsequent calculation of each relevant individuals time in respect of their R&D activities.”

David clarified that, “The Gateley team challenged each area of our claim in a knowledgeable, professional manner. This exercise provided me with the peace of mind that Rapierstar’s claim is robust and accurate, should we ever be selected for random scrutiny from HMRC.”

Rapierstar are constantly looking to design, develop and produce new products, enhance their existing processes and procedures by identifying new technologies. This is where the Gateley Capitus technical team are able to use their industry experience, knowledge and experience of the scheme, to ensure this and all future claims are compliant with HMRC’s evolving guidelines.

“Our experience of working with the Gateley team during our first claim together has been very positive. The team at Gateley ensured we kept on track and quickly established constructive relationships with each member of Rapierstar’s team. This year we are working with Gateley on a quarterly basis to ensure that our future claims are collated and updated throughout the year. I believe this will make our final claim process run even more smoothly.”