Any business that experiences and surpasses technical obstacles may qualify for R&D tax credits. Having said that, qualification is generally determined by how much the work performed by a business fits the standards set out in a four-part test contained in the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) as well as Treasury Regulations.
Businesses that recognize their operations to be routine may discover that they are actually innovative when they apply the four-part test.
Test #1: The Business Activities Being Done is For A Qualified Purpose
The study should be undertaken with the purpose of designing a new or improved business attribute, and this will eventually result in a new or enhanced function, performance, dependability, or quality. A business component might be an item, a procedure, software programs, a methodology, a formula, or an invention—a broad description that encompasses a wide variety of sectors.
Test #2: The Business Activity Eliminates Uncertainty About Development or Improvement
A corporation should establish that it has made reasonable efforts to minimize ambiguity surrounding the creation or enhancement of a business segment. Uncertainty emerges when the corporation’s knowledge doesn’t really define the capacity or procedure for producing or upgrading the business unit or the component’s proper design. Many businesses are certain in their capacity to meet technical objectives or even have a well-known process for solving problems, however, the design is rarely specified at the start of the project.
Test #3: The Business Activity Involves A Process of Experimentation
A business must show that it has assessed one or even more different strategies for reaching the target outcome using models, simulations, methodical experimentation, or any other means. Certain tasks are inherently iterative in nature. Engineering, software development, and clinical research, for example, all require a method capable of evaluating one or more options. Additionally, the concept is wide enough to encompass a variety of different sorts of activities.
Test #4: The Business Activity Is Technological By Nature
Experiments must be conducted using hard sciences like engineering, physics, chemistry, biology, as well as computer science. It is indeed critical to remember that businesses are not compelled to go beyond, build upon, or develop established scientific ideas.
For a preliminary step, a business should conduct an audit of its operations to identify potentially qualified activities. Businesses that pursue the benefit should be ready to define records and support their qualified research and development efforts.
Documents Required In Order To Claim R&D Tax Credits
R&D tax credits can be availed of for both the current and the previous taxable years, thus, businesses might be able to benefit by being able to document their R&D operation so that they can maximize the amount of the tax credit being sought.
To avail of this tax credit, taxpayers should contemporaneously review and log their research efforts in order to determine the amount of qualifying research costs paid for each eligible research activity. Although taxpayers can estimate some research costs, they should have a factual foundation for the assumptions made.
Email messages as well as other documents that a firm generates in the normal course of operations when supplemented with reliable employee evidence, these data can serve as the foundation for a prosperous R&D credit claim.
Proper Reporting Is Vital When Claiming R&D Tax Credits
In this case, the court rejected Siemer Milling’s claim for nearly $235,000 in R&D credits for the tax years 2010 and also 2011. This disallowance was mainly the result of the taxpayer’s inability to keep and furnish supporting paperwork indicating that the company’s operations matched all four criteria for qualifying research costs.
Siemer Milling argued that expenditure incurred in developing new flour products as well as improving its manufacturing process qualifies for the R&D credit. Unfortunately, the corporation provided no evidence demonstrating that the actions constitute scientific testing.
The court determined that although the taxpayer indicated merely that it was engaged in product innovation including technical activities, these conclusory comments were inadequate proof through their own. Simply listing the actions done did not suffice to establish that the firm used a systematic approach comprising a series of experiments to test the proposed hypotheses in order to create new products and processes.
How Tax Reform Laws Modified R&D Tax Credits
Before the tax reform, taxpayers couldn’t even claim a deduction equivalent to the amount of the R&D tax credit under IRC Section 174. This stopped businesses from receiving a double tax advantage, and taxpayers were compelled to cut their research and development expenditure by the credit amount. Reduced expenditure resulted in a rise in revenue and any associated taxes.
Taxpayers may avoid the lowering of their research expenditure by opting to take a lower credit under IRC Section 280C(c)(3), which had been kept in the TCJA and computed by using corporation tax rate at its highest. Nevertheless, because the highest corporate tax rate was decreased from 35% to 21%, the AMT rate has been removed, resulting in additional credit for taxpayers.
Nonetheless, there is one lingering restriction on R&D credits that prevents taxpayers from totally eliminating their tax burden. The restriction, sometimes referred to as the 25/25 limitation, prohibits taxpayers having a regular tax burden of more than $25,000 from utilizing the credit to offset over 75% of their usual tax payment.
- Preservation of Credits to Eligible Small Businesses
Earlier, businesses or proprietors of pass-through businesses with an average income of less than $50 million over the preceding three years were entitled to use the R&D tax credit to compensate AMT. Due to the TCJA’s elimination of the corporate alternative minimum tax, this clause will impact local taxpayers who get R&D credit from a corporation in which they hold apart.
- Preservation of Payroll Credits for Eligible Small Businesses
Startup businesses with under $5 million in sales will still be allowed to chose to defer up to $250,000 from payroll taxes during the first five years of operation. Payroll credit should be chosen on the initial return beginning in 2017.
- Individual Taxpayers’ Utilization Increased
Prior to tax reform, individual taxpayers have been occasionally barred from claiming the credit due to the individual AMT. Individual taxpayers’ AMT exemptions are rising at the moment. As a consequence, individual taxpayers are expected to utilize a greater portion of the R&D credits that their employers pass through to them.
