While more assistance for games development companies would be very welcome, it is not uncommon for many games companies to not be taking full advantage of the existing incentive scheme which is the R&D tax credit scheme.

Here are a few common errors that we see games companies make resulting in them under-claiming R&D tax credits:

1. Not including creative staff - frequently a large proportion can be included in the R&D claim providing it is structured correctly

2. Not realising that if they are an SME they can claim R&D tax credits for work that they subcontract out

3. Not taking the effect of the R&D tax credits into account when pricing work that is subcontracted to them by another SME - i.e. if you know that the company subcontracting the work to you can potentially claim 24.5% of the amount back in cash, then you should be incorporating this into your pricing.

Micah Levy
http://research-and-development-tax-credits.com