Mitchell Charlesworth has strengthened its growing tax team with the appointment of Jennifer Curtis as corporate tax manager.
Ms Curtis will be based across the company’s Chester, Liverpool and Manchester offices, and take responsibility for corporation tax reviews. She’ll also play a key role in assisting with the firm’s increasing volume of Research and Development (R&D) tax work.
After completing her formal ACA training in 2012 Ms Curtis worked at another local practice before joining Mitchell Charlesworth at the start of November.
Mitchell Charlesworth tax partner Tim Adcock said: “Jennifer is a strong addition to our tax team. She has many attributes including extensive corporation tax experience and specialist expertise in R&D work. Her positive, progressive and ambitious outlook make her an ideal fit for our tax team.
“In recent months, our practice has seen a sharp rise in processing R&D claims largely as a result of educating our client base on the eligibility criteria. This is an area where Jennifer brings significant experience helping businesses of all sizes, across a wide variety of industry sectors, to take advantage of tax savings that stem from their investment in the improvement of a product or service.
“Every year an estimated £1billion of R&D tax credits go unclaimed as many companies remain unaware of their eligibility to qualify for tax relief. By expanding our team we will be able to place greater resource in this area to generate larger savings for clients and attract new business.”
Ms Curtis said: “What really attracted me to Mitchell Charlesworth was the opportunity to take on more responsibility and make the role my own. I will be largely involved in reviewing corporation tax computations and the preparation of research and development claims. The firm’s broad reach across the region will enable me to support many different clients of the practice.
“Mitchell Charlesworth has a strong reputation for providing value for money in terms of its range and depth of specialist advisory services. This presents a great platform on which to continue to develop our specialist tax advice for clients.
“Potentially, there are a lot of companies that may not know they’re actually involved in R&D,” said Ms Curtis. “For example, there are a lot of software companies that don’t actually realise they’re actively involved in projects that would meet HMRC’s definition. They may see it as part of the day-to-day running of the business but in certain cases that work would actually qualify.
“More and more businesses are getting involved, especially with work that meets HMRC’s definition of true R&D. As I’m reviewing corporation tax computations I’ll be able to pick up on whether there’s the potential for a claim, and whether we can approach the client to take things forward.”
For more information about Mitchell Charlesworth’s R & D services, call 01244 323 051 or email cara.bartlett@mitchellcharlesworth.co.uk
