AAB appoints new head of innovations tax

Chartered accountants and business advisory firm, Anderson Anderson and Brown (AAB), has appointed Derek Gemmell to head of innovations tax.

Gemmell, who has been with the firm for 11 years, will play a “leading” role in continuing to develop and grow AAB’s specialist research and development ‘Tax Relief’ and ‘Patent Box’ services.

The firm said its dedicated innovations tax team seek to “maximise” the tax reliefs available to businesses undertaking R&D expenditure and have a “strong” track record in agreeing successful R&D claims with HMRC.

Neil Dinnes, head of corporate and international tax, 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.

“Delivering solutions for clients in this area culminated in this richly deserved appointment to head of innovations tax.”

He added: “He is a superb fit for this new role and I am confident that his drive and vision for ‘innovation’ will not only continue to positively impact our clients, but will also contribute towards this specialist team playing their part in the ambitious growth plans across the AAB group.”

Commenting on his appointment, Gemmell added: “I am delighted to take on this role and work closely with the fantastic innovations tax team we have here at AAB. We have achieved some significant results for our clients in this space, and 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 businesses who are carrying out R&D a number of different areas including design, engineering and software where their activity also qualifies for the relief.”