Guides
Eight step by step guides: choosing an adviser, comparing proposals, negotiating fees, in-house or adviser, the true cost of a claim, preparing for meetings, running a request for proposals, and managing an adviser year to year.
The guides take the rest of this site and turn it into a sequence of steps: what to do first, what to bring, what to ask, what to write down. Each one has numbered steps, a checklist at the end of each step and a "Before you move on" box where a mistake is easy to make. They are written for a business owner or finance lead, and they assume no prior knowledge of R&D claims.
The guides do not recommend any adviser and do not rank fee models. Every model on this site can be the right one for some business, and the guides are about finding out which is right for yours.
Where to start
If you are choosing an adviser, start with how to choose an R&D tax adviser and then how to compare proposals. If you are not sure you need one, start with in-house or adviser. If you already have an adviser, managing an adviser year to year is the one to keep. The true cost of a claim sits under all of them.
- How to choose an R&D tax adviserThe full process from shortlist to signature: deciding what you need, finding candidates, asking the twenty questions in writing, comparing proposals on the same claim, checking references and reading the letter clause by clause.
- How to compare proposalsPutting different fee models on the same basis: one claim figure, every fee costed on it and on half of it, extras added, the downside tested, and the non-fee terms compared side by side.
- How to negotiate feesCaps, fixed elements, staged payments and review support: what to ask for, why an adviser can fairly say yes, what to offer in return, and how to get the answer into the letter.
- In-house or adviserWhen to prepare a claim yourself and when to get help: the real reasons for each, the middle ground of a review or a partial engagement, and how to decide for your own business this year.
- The true cost of a claimFees, internal time, review risk and repayment risk together: how to see what a claim really costs before you decide how to make it, with the shared example worked through a good year and a bad one.
- Preparing for adviser meetingsWhat to bring and what to ask: how to get the most from a first meeting with an adviser, who should be in the room, the records to have ready, and how to turn the conversation into written answers.
- How to run a request for proposalsRunning a short, fair selection process: a one page brief, the same information to every candidate, the twenty questions as the questionnaire, written answers on the same claim, and a decision you can explain.
- Managing an adviser year to yearOversight, reviewing each claim and renewing the engagement: the yearly cycle with an adviser, from records and dates at the start of the year to the renewal decision at the end.
KnowYourFees.org is published by Swanson Reed, an R&D tax advisory firm that competes with other advisers. This site does not recommend any adviser, including Swanson Reed.
© 2026 Swanson Reed. You may use the templates and checklists for your own business. Official material is used under the terms set by its publisher.