The situation
A description of an engineering project run across three countries
A family-owned bearings group with plants in Łódź and Ostrava and an engineering centre in Sheffield has spent eighteen months on a new low-friction coating. The engineers call it R&D. Before the year closes, the CFO wants to know whether the tax rules in each of the three countries agree, and what a claim would need.
Each country has its own definition, its own list of qualifying costs and its own paperwork, and a claim made on the wrong basis is expensive to unwind. The hours go on testing one project description against three sets of rules and turning that into something the board and the auditors can read.
What the research has to settle
The rules behind the answer
- Each country defines R&D for itself
- The definitions share a core of systematic, creative work aimed at new knowledge or new applications, but the tests differ. The UK, for example, asks whether the project seeks an advance in science or technology by resolving scientific or technological uncertainty.
- Routine work around the project is usually out
- Routine testing, quality control and adapting an existing product without technical uncertainty generally fall outside the definitions. The note should separate the uncertain core of the project from the work around it.
- Qualifying costs are a closed list
- Each country lists the costs that count, typically including staff and materials, with its own rules on external work and connected parties. The rate of relief and the categories change over time, so the research confirms them for the year of the claim.
- Records and timing differ
- Czech law ties the deduction to a written R&D project, so when it was drawn up matters. Polish law requires the qualifying costs to be recorded separately in the books. UK claims now come with additional information and notification requirements.
How it runs in azta
From the question to the document
The question, as you would type it
Our group developed a new low-friction bearing coating over 18 months, with engineers in Łódź, Ostrava and Sheffield. Project description attached. Does the work meet the tax definition of R&D in Poland, the Czech Republic and the UK, which costs qualify, and what documentation must we hold?
You start with
A description of an engineering project run across three countries
- 01
Upload the project description
Add the project plan and the engineers’ technical summary. azta reads them and refers back to the passage it relied on.
File upload· Pro - 02
Test it against each definition
Ask whether the work meets the definition in each country. azta cites the Polish and Czech income tax acts and the UK legislation.
Cited research· Free - 03
Read the definitions side by side
Open each cited definition in the reader, in the original language, and compare the version in force for the claim year.
Atlas statute reader - 04
Draft the board note
Ask for a note with a table per country: definition met or not, qualifying costs, records needed. Edit it in Canvas.
Canvas · Ask azta· Pro You send
A note on R&D relief eligibility, qualifying costs and documentation in each country
What you get
A note on R&D relief eligibility, qualifying costs and documentation in each country
Board note · draft
Coating project: R&D relief in three countries
Summary. The core of the project, developing a coating whose wear behaviour could not be predicted from existing knowledge, appears to meet the definition of R&D in all three countries. The production trials after the formula was fixed probably do not, and we propose to leave them out of every claim.
Poland and the Czech Republic. Both give relief by deducting qualifying costs from the tax base. In Poland the costs must be shown separately in the books, so we will set up project cost centres from January. In the Czech Republic the deduction depends on a written project, so we will check when the Ostrava project document was approved against the costs we intend to claim.
United Kingdom. The Sheffield costs are assessed under the UK scheme for the accounting period. We will confirm the information and notification requirements before the return is filed, and the engineers will provide a short technical narrative for the claim.
Outcomes on your numbers
What azta is worth on this task
Pro pays for itself after
11 minutes a month
At €160 an hour, that is all the time Pro (€27 a month) has to take off your desk to cover its price.
Example figures. Replace them with your own.
- Hours back a year
- 32
- Capacity at your rate
- €5,184
- More R&D eligibility notes a quarter
- 0.7
- Return on Pro
- 16×
- Research
- Drafting
- Your review
A scenario you set, not a promise. The hours that come back go to another client, or deeper into this one.
Want these numbers on your team’s real workload?
Book a demoWhat stays with you
- The technical judgement of what was uncertain, which needs your engineers.
- Official guidance that sits alongside the legislation, which azta does not hold for every country.
- The cost figures and the claim itself, made with each return.
Frequently asked questions
- Does azta calculate the relief?
- No. It sets out the rules, the qualifying cost categories and the records, and drafts the note. The figures and the claim stay with your finance team and advisors.
- Can it compare other countries too?
- Yes. Name the countries and ask for a comparison table. Each row cites the national rule.
- Is the project description kept private?
- Yes. Uploaded documents are never used for training on any plan, and they stay in the EU/EEA.
