The R&D credit is not just for laboratories.

If your company develops products, writes software, improves processes, or engineers its way through technical problems, there’s a real chance the work qualifies for a federal credit that reduces tax dollar for dollar. Most eligible companies never claim it. We find out whether yours should, for free.

Schedule K&A — The Credit §41

Permitted purposemet

Technologicalmet

Uncertaintymet

Experimentationmet

Documentationaudit-ready

Federal creditdollar-for-dollar

A CREDIT WITHOUT DOCUMENTATION IS A LIABILITY — WE BUILD THE FILE TO HOLD UP

Most eligible companies never claim the credit, and it’s rarely their fault.

The federal research credit rewards the everyday work of making things better: a software team building a new platform, a manufacturer redesigning a process, an engineering firm solving a problem no one has solved that way before. The test is functional, not academic. But two things keep companies from claiming it. First, no one told them the work qualified. Second, their preparer wasn’t equipped to document it, and an undocumented credit is a liability, not an asset.

Add the 2025 tax law, which restored immediate expensing of domestic research costs after several painful years of mandatory capitalization, and this is the right moment to look.

If your team builds, improves, or codes, this is worth a look.

Software and technology companies

Custom platforms, SaaS products, integrations, architecture work, and new features.

Manufacturers

Process improvement, tooling and fixtures, automation, and materials development.

Engineering and design firms

Novel solutions to technical problems in civil, mechanical, electrical, and process engineering.

Product companies

Prototyping and iterating physical or digital products toward market.

Startups

Pre-revenue and early-stage companies that can apply the credit against payroll taxes.

The four-part test.

Activity generally qualifies when it meets all four of these.

Permitted purpose

The work aims to develop or improve a product, process, software, technique, formula, or invention.

Technological in nature

It relies on principles of engineering, computer science, or the physical or biological sciences.

Elimination of uncertainty

At the outset, there was uncertainty about capability, method, or design.

Process of experimentation

The work proceeded through evaluating alternatives: modeling, simulation, prototyping, trial and error.

The study, the documentation, and the elections that make it pay.

Free qualification review. A candid read on whether your activities meet the test, before you spend anything on a study.

Credit study. Identifying qualified research activities and expenses, calculating the credit under the method that yields the best result, and preparing Form 6765.

Audit-ready documentation. Project descriptions, technical narratives, time allocations, and contemporaneous records organized to withstand examination.

Payroll tax offset election. For qualifying startups, electing to apply the credit against payroll taxes, so it’s worth money even before profitability.

Multi-year look-backs. Claiming credits for open prior years where the work qualified but nothing was claimed.

Section 174 strategy. Applying restored immediate expensing of domestic research costs and evaluating recovery of amounts capitalized in prior years.

Ongoing documentation. Establishing a lightweight process so future years are documented as you go.

Three steps, and the first one costs nothing.

01

Qualification review

A short conversation about what your team builds and how. We’ll tell you honestly whether it’s worth pursuing and roughly what the credit could be.

02

The study

We interview the people doing the work, gather project and payroll data, identify qualified activities and expenses, and calculate the credit.

03

Documentation & filing

The technical narratives and workpapers are built to the standard an examiner expects. The credit is claimed on your return, and the documentation stays in your file.

The credit and the file that defends it, from the same desk.

Documentation first. A credit without documentation is an audit waiting to happen. We build the file to hold up, because Jesse holds Enrolled Agent representation rights and will be the one defending it.

Integrated, not bolted on. The credit is one piece of a larger tax strategy: entity structure, compensation, research expensing, and state credits all interact. We see the whole picture.

Honest qualification. We tell you when the work doesn’t qualify. The free review exists so you never pay for a study that shouldn’t happen.

Current on the new law. Jesse is the author of The One Big Beautiful Bill, the Amazon #1 best seller on the 2025 tax law, including the restored expensing rules that changed the economics of research for every innovating company.

Questions we’re asked before the first call.

Does my company qualify for the R&D tax credit?

If your team develops or improves products, software, or processes by working through technical uncertainty, whether that’s designing, prototyping, testing, or iterating, you may qualify. The industries where we most often find credits are software, manufacturing, engineering, and product development. A short free review is usually enough for a candid answer.

How much is the R&D credit worth?

It depends on your qualified expenses and the calculation method, but the federal credit is often in the range of 6 to 10 percent of qualified research spending, and it reduces tax dollar for dollar rather than reducing income. For companies with meaningful engineering or development payroll, that’s a significant number every year.

Can a startup with no profit use the credit?

Yes. Qualifying small businesses can elect to apply the credit against payroll taxes, which means it puts cash back into the company even before it owes income tax. This is one of the most overlooked benefits for early-stage companies.

What changed under the 2025 tax law for research costs?

Immediate expensing of domestic research and experimental costs was restored for tax years beginning after December 31, 2024, reversing the capitalization requirement that inflated many companies’ tax bills starting in 2022. Transition provisions may allow recovery of previously capitalized amounts. If your business absorbed that cost, it’s worth a conversation now.

Can I claim the credit for prior years?

Often, yes. Credits can generally be claimed on amended returns for open tax years, typically the last three. If your company was doing qualifying work and never claimed it, a look-back study can recover real money.

What documentation do I need?

Project records, technical descriptions of what was attempted and why it was uncertain, time allocations for the people involved, and payroll and expense data. Most companies have more of this than they think. We organize it into the narratives and workpapers an examiner expects, and set up a simple process for the future.

Find out if the work you’re already doing qualifies.

A free qualification review takes one conversation. If your
company builds, improves, or codes, that conversation could
be worth a permanent credit every year.