As a CPA or tax/financial professional, you are a trusted advisor and partner for each client you serve. As a trusted partner, you possess crucial skills that can make or break a business’s ability to succeed. Companies of all shapes and sizes look to you for guidance in an ever-changing accounting world and expect ethical, accurate, and informed advice.
Often, these expectations are too grandiose for one expert to meet alone, so you turn to co-workers and trusted advisors for assistance. Sometimes, this means reaching outside your own four walls. One area of tax often left to specialists is the R&D Tax Credit, and rightfully so. The complexities of the tax code and regulations, along with the awareness of current and historical case law, make it difficult and timely to accurately assess and calculate the level of your client’s eligibility; however, that does not mean you cannot be a valuable asset in identifying this benefit for your clients.
Understanding your client’s operations and everyday activities associated with the R&D credit can help you identify an eligible client, proving your weight in gold as a partner and confidant! This article aims to help you quickly identify clients highly likely to qualify for the lucrative R&D tax credit. Just answer these two questions:
Does Your Client Work Within the Following Industries?
- Agriculture
- Architecture
- Design/Build Construction
- Engineering
- Food and Beverage
- Manufacturing
- Oil & Gas
- Software
Does Your Client Do Any of the Following?
- Develop or design new products, software, or processes;
- Enhance or improve existing products, software, or processes;
- Work within modeling software such as Solidworks, AutoCAD, BIM, etc;
- Test or evaluate products/processes; or
- Manufacture, assemble, construct new or improved products.
Don’t know the answer to these questions? Check out their website and/or LinkedIn. This is often where we look first to understand a company’s operations and their likelihood of qualifying for the R&D tax credit.
The purpose of this article is brevity and a high-level assessment of your client’s R&D Tax Credit eligibility; however, if you want to learn more, visit our R&D tax credit webpage.
The R&D credit can save your client hundreds of thousands in tax dollars on a year-to-year basis. In Q1 & Q2 of 2020, Calvetti Ferguson helped dozens of companies save over six figures in income tax. If you answered yes to either or both of the above questions, contact us and let us help you calculate and substantiate your client’s R&D claim.
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Calvetti Ferguson works with middle-market companies, private equity firms, and high-net-worth individuals nationwide. Regardless of the complexity of the compliance, assurance, advisory, or accounting need, our team is ready to help you. Please complete the form below, and we will follow up with you shortly.