Editorial standards

Pages use short sentences and everyday words, and speak to you directly. Where a country has its own terms, the country page uses them, for example the name of its tax authority and of its claim form.

• Every factual statement is checked against a source before a page is published.
• Official sources come first: legislation, tax authority guidance, regulators and courts.
• The sources are listed on the page, with links, so you can read them yourself.
• A statement that cannot be confirmed is not published.

Each country page shows the date it was last reviewed. Rules change, so a page tells you how recent it is, and you should check the official source before you act.

• Every fee figure and worked example is illustrative, and is labelled that way beside the figure. Figures from official sources are cited.
• Fee comparisons use the same claim and the same assumptions for every fee model, and the assumptions are shown on the page.
• No statistic is published without a source.

Each case study is illustrative and carries a label saying so at the top. A real story is published only with written consent, and with identifying details removed.

• No firm, person or product is named, other than the publisher.
• Each red flag page says when the practice is a problem and when it is not.
• The tone is calm. A red flag means "ask more questions". It does not mean anyone has done wrong.
• The site recommends no adviser, including its publisher.

The calculator shows its assumptions beside the result. The fee test and the health check end with questions to ask. They never give a score, a grade or a ranking.

A page is published only after its facts have been checked and it has been reviewed against the site's legal requirements.

When a page is wrong we change it, and a change that affects the meaning is recorded with its date. The corrections page explains how to report an error and lists every correction.

The publisher is an R&D tax advisory firm and competes with other advisers. The conflicts of interest page sets that out and explains the rules that follow from it.