Matt Hyde, Director of FinTech Awards Wales Meets:

Adam Spriggs,

R & D Tax Director at Zeal

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As part of our new interview series, Matt Hyde, Director of Recruit121 and FinTech Awards Wales, talks to professionals in Wales thriving FinTech Sector. This week Matt caught up with Adam Spriggs, R & D Tax Director at Zeal Tax.

Tell us about your main focus at Zeal Tax

My main focus at Zeal is working with businesses preparing R&D Tax claims. This would involve identifying eligible projects and developing bespoke methodologies to allow us to prepare and submit R&D Tax claims to HMRC and if necessary have discussions with them, but in recent years this has greatly evolved.

At Zeal we look to work with our clients throughout the year, not just once a year to prepare the claims. We provide tools to help them capture data in real time and have regular catch ups to ensure that whilst the R&D Tax regime is unlikely to lead any decisions, that each decision is made knowing the full implications. A recent  example of this was a company looking at a variety of grants and unaware how the type of grant would impact their claim.

Over the past 2 years HMRC have significantly increased their resources assessing R&D Tax claims as well as brought in new legislation, so it’s vital our clients are aware of how these changes might impact their claims. This focus on assessing claims has led to the development of our enquiry defence service over the past 12 months whereby we assist companies that have found themselves in an enquiry due to having prepared the claim themselves or where their previous advisor is no longer assisting them.

What impact do you feel FinTech Awards Wales are making in the FinTech sector in Wales?

The Awards have been great for raising awareness, fostering the network within Wales and providing a forum for these companies to come together and recognise their own as well as their industry’s achievements.

I have spoken with businesses previously who actively moved to base their business in Cardiff as it has built a reputation as a destination city for FinTech businesses to grow and indeed flourish. The Awards have played a big part in creating and building that reputation.

Why have you chosen to support the Awards and in particular the Team of the Year Award? 

The Team of the Year category epitomises what business is all about – working as a team. A supportive team environment will maximise each person’s strengths and lead to better decision making, efficient sharing of information and a more motivated and engaged workforce. No matter how good a product or service is, it will never meet its full potential without a strong team behind it. Whether individuals are part of the technical development, marketing or support functions, all are vital to the efficiency of a business and its success.

How do you feel the Welsh economy has fared post Covid and what predictions do you have for the next 12 months?

Whilst Covid obviously affected all businesses and the economy, a lot thrived as they adapted and in some instances grew out of the pandemic. There were some benefits in that businesses became more adaptable and found new ways for doing things, using technology more and realising that all work doesn’t have to be done between 9-5. This adaptability is what will help the Welsh economy moving forward.

Whilst we are in the midst of a cost of living crisis which will impact some businesses more than others, I still see the Welsh economy in a better position in 12 months from now than today.

 What is Zeal Tax doing today to support the FinTech in the future?

On top of working with FinTech businesses with future R&D Tax claims, Zeal also run training sessions on other areas of taxation focused towards start ups including directors loans, SEIS/EIS eligibility, and tax structuring amongst other areas.

From our network we have also been able to suggest accountants and other professional services for owners to speak.

We see ourselves as more than transactional tax advisors.

Finally what’s the best advice you were given and what advice you would give?

This may apply to just me, but ‘slow down’. Whether starting a career or a new venture the thought is to always focus on what’s next or what more you can do to reach a goal quicker. Whilst these are obviously important, what’s sometimes lost is the ‘now’. Take the time to recognise the accomplishments of what you’ve achieved. There may well be more of the story to tell, but that doesn’t mean you haven’t achieved something yet. That’s why the Fintech Awards are so important, as they recognise the ‘now’.

I wish someone had stressed to me earlier the importance of building your network. I didn’t really start building mine until I was 3-4 years into my career thinking that I wasn’t at the level where it was necessary. Whether it’s keeping in contact with ex-colleagues or knowing people in other businesses, that network may not help you now, but there’s a good chance it will in the future or may help someone else you meet. A network isn’t there to just generate immediate financial gain, its there for the betterment of the people and businesses within it. The more (quality) people in your network the better it is.