Anderson Anderson & Brown ramps up R&D tax relief service

Anderson Anderson & Brown (AAB), the Aberdeen-headquartered firm of chartered accountants and business advisors, has appointed a new head of innovations tax as it looks to further expand its research and development tax relief services.

Derek Gemmell has been with the firm for 11 years. Picture: Contributed

Derek Gemmell, who has been with the firm for 11 years, will play a key role in continuing to develop and grow AAB’s specialist R&D tax relief and “patent box” offering.

The team aims to maximise the tax reliefs available to businesses undertaking R&D spending and has secured some £10 million of tax savings for clients in the last three years.

Neil Dinnes, head of corporate and international tax at AAB, which also has offices in Edinburgh and London, said: “Derek has extensive knowledge of various specialist tax services and significant experience of being able to identify where these unique tax rules can apply. He is a superb fit for this new role.”

Gemmell added: “We have achieved some significant results for our clients in this space, and we are now looking to develop this further by growing our offering.

“A common misunderstanding is that these reliefs only apply to pure scientific research in a lab, which is not the case. We help firms who are carrying out R&D in a number of areas including design, engineering and software where their activity also qualifies for the relief.”