Titan’s Vision:

Our goal is to maximize the R&D Credit’s net benefit for taxpayers by reducing the cost of successful audit defense, documentation and support.

Through continuous, cooperative communication with the Regulatory Agencies, we are bringing Industry and Auditor expectations closer together, which further enhances the Congressional intent of supporting American Innovation.

I’m Brian Lefever, the concept-guy behind Titan Armor.  I’m not an accountant.  I’m a Professional Engineer who spent the last two decades in a high-stress, production-driven environment.

The US Manufacturing Sector is under intense global competition.  The R&D Tax Credit is offered by Congress to manufacturers who are innovating on US soil, in an effort to support American competition.  However, the IRS is appropriately cautious about providing these incentives to taxpayers who don’t deserve them, so they increased audits around the R&D Tax Credit starting in 2008.  If you want more info on this, check out our R&D Credit legal database - it compiles the rules around the R&D Credit, with a focus on the current IRS Tier I environment.

The problem is, the IRS needs “contemporaneous nexus” from America’s engineers and operations folks, in order to efficiently complete an audit of a taxpayer’s claim for these incentives.  Unfortunately, this level of documentation makes the cost of capturing and defending the Credit prohibitive for many taxpayers.  So we got to work in late 2008 to build Titan Armor – a low-cost web app designed to give the IRS the data they need very efficiently.

Since the introduction of Armor, we’ve been blessed with the opportunity to work with CPAs across the country whose taxpayer-clients’ Credits are being reviewed by the IRS and State Tax Authorities.  Since the beginning, we have sought first to understand the Auditor’s concerns, then worked to develop a methodology and platform to address those concerns.  The results have been outstanding.

Today, we provide free guidance to any CPA and/or taxpayer faced with a challenging audit situation.  It is our goal that, through education and better communication, we can help American manufacturers meet the IRS documentation requirements for the R&D Tax Credit while protecting the folks who are getting the job done.  Ultimately, this means more money in the hands of the innovators, which leads to a stronger America.