Questions and answers

Work to develop or improve a product, process, formula or design where the answer wasn't known at the start and your team tested options to find it, using engineering or science. Most qualifying work happens on shop floors and in design offices, not labs.

For most established claimants using the Alternative Simplified Credit, the federal credit works out to roughly 4% to 9% of qualifying spending, depending on your history and elections. Many states add their own credit. Our calculator shows a conservative range; the real number comes from your records.

No. Your CPA files. We hand them completed forms, the workbook and a filing manual, and we answer their questions.

A study memo, write-ups for each qualifying project, the expense workbook, completed Form 6765 including Section G, state forms where applicable, and filing manuals for you and your CPA.

2 to 3 weeks from signed engagement to final study, provided we get everything we need. The first call takes 15 minutes.

Often. If you didn't claim the credit or under-claimed it, open years can generally be amended, usually 2023 onward. Amended claims must include project-level detail, which our study provides. Your CPA confirms the deadline for each year.

For tax years starting after 2024, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act lets businesses deduct domestic research costs in the year they're paid (new Section 174A) instead of spreading them over five years. Eligible small businesses could also elect to apply this back to 2022 through 2024, but that election window closed on July 6, 2026. Remaining unamortized 2022 to 2024 domestic research costs may be deductible starting with 2025 returns. Foreign research costs are still spread over 15 years. This is separate from the credit; your CPA decides how it's reported, and we make sure the two line up.

A part of IRS Form 6765 that reports research costs by project (business component). It's optional for 2025 and required for most claimants starting with 2026 tax years, with exceptions for smaller original-return claims. Amended claims need this detail regardless of size. We complete it for you.

The R&D credit gets more IRS attention than most credits, and amended claims especially. That's why we document every project to the current standard and exclude work that doesn't qualify. A well-documented claim is the best protection.

Audit support is included. We provide the workpapers, explain our analysis and help your CPA or representative respond for as long as the tax year stays open, at no extra charge.

No annual cap on the federal credit itself. Separately, qualifying small businesses (under $5 million in gross receipts and no receipts before the last five years) can use up to $500,000 a year of credit against payroll taxes, even with no income tax to offset.

Ask for a free second opinion. We'll review your last study. If we can't find more or spot a risk worth fixing, it costs you nothing.

For the first call, nothing. After you sign, payroll summaries, contractor invoices, supply costs and project records. We don't ask for detailed payroll files before you've engaged us.

Files are shared in a private, view-only folder with the people you name, and our client portal requires a login. We keep your files for the life of the engagement and delete them on request. An NDA is available on request.

Yes, through a specialist partner for early-stage software, and directly for software built inside manufacturing, engineering and construction businesses.

One point of contact from the first call to delivery, with the study fully prepared by an independent tax specialist.

We use software, including AI tools, to read and index your records. It saves your team time and makes sure nothing is missed. It does not decide what qualifies. People do, and an independent R&D tax specialist signs off on every study.

Usually, yes. Most companies have more than they think: job files, drawings with revisions, inspection reports, emails. Where the records are thin, we tell you, and we claim less rather than guess.

3 to 5 hours at most for most owners: the first call, a 30-minute project walk-through, sending existing files, and one or two short interviews with the people who did the work.