R&D Tax Credits for Food, Beverage and Cosmetics Makers
New formulas, trial batches and scale-up headaches are often exactly what the credit was written for.
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Often qualifies
Work that often qualifies
- Developing new recipes, flavors or formulations
- Reformulating for new ingredients, allergens, clean labels or costs
- Shelf-life, stability and packaging compatibility testing
- Scaling a recipe from bench to production
- Improving cooking, mixing, filling or preservation processes
Usually doesn't
What usually doesn't
- Routine quality testing of finished batches
- Cosmetic packaging redesign with no technical question
- Taste panels and market testing alone
Costs
Costs that count
Wages of food scientists, chemists, production leads and supervisors for qualifying work; ingredients and packaging consumed in trials; 65% of US lab or co-packer costs for qualifying work.
Questions
Common questions
Yes, if you bear the development risk and keep rights to the formula. Co-packer costs then count at 65%.
Yes. Failed trials are evidence of real experimentation, as long as each batch is documented with dates and what changed.
Find out in 15 minutes whether it's worth doing
Bring a rough idea of headcount and what your team worked on. We'll tell you whether there's a credit worth claiming and what the study involves.