Research and Development Tax Credits

Your business may qualify for R&D tax credits that you haven’t been taking advantage of. Tax law is complex, and many activities that aren’t traditionally research and development-oriented actually qualify for credits at the state and federal level.

R&D tax credit qualified activities

In fact, many of your day-to-day activities may qualify. The R&D tax credit four-part test lays out the basic requirements:

1. The activity must relate to a new or improved business component (e.g., product, process, technique, formula, invention or software application)
2. The activity involves physical or biological sciences, engineering or computer science in the research process (you may use existing technologies or principles to satisfy this requirement)
3. The activity is intended to eliminate technical uncertainty through research (e.g., capability, method or design) related to the development or improvement of the business component
4. Substantially all of the activity or activities must relate to a process of experimentation, such as systematic trial and error, modeling or simulation

You can benefit by deducting your research expenditures and claiming the R&D credit.

Identify and maximize your credits

Wipfli’s research and development tax credit team helps your business identify tax savings opportunities so you can lower your tax liability and increase your cash flow. Also called the research and experimentation tax credit (or R&E tax credit), this credit is available both at the federal level and in the majority of states.

Let our team of engineers, technical writers and financial leaders work together to help you maximize your benefits under this valuable credit so that you can continue to reinvest in your business.