The R&D Tax Credit …
… federal incentives, provided by Congress, to US Companies to offset your cost of innovation.
If you’re innovating your products and/or processes, and you’re not yet taking this Credit, you’re over-paying your taxes! Check out the “What’s it all About” video, above, to learn more.
THE CHALLENGE: Documenting Cost Effectively.
Today, taxpayers need to document their Research and Development activities more than ever before (see the IRS Audit Techniques Guide published in May 2008). However, documentation is the last thing engineers and operations folks want to do. We understand this (as engineers ourselves), so we built Armor to make this as easy as possible on the folks doing the R&D work.
Remember–if you throw enough resources at it, you can get any project done. The same is true with capturing your R&D Credit. Why make it harder (i.e. more expensive) than it needs to be?
THE SOLUTION: Titan Armor – Project Tracking.
The IRS and State Agencies provide consistent guidance in the audits:
DAILY COST TRACKING IS THE MOST ACCURATE AND DEFENSIBLE APPROACH TO CAPTURING YOUR R&D CREDIT.
Unfortunately, many businesses keep poor (if any) project accounting records, and trying to reconstruct the data at the end of the year is disruptive, costly, and difficult to defend. With Titan Armor, you can quickly learn the IRS’ documentation requirements, and start building the documentation you need to defend your Credit in less than one minute a day.
The fastest way to understand this is to take the 7-day Free Trial (click the Free Trial button at the bottom of this page). However, here are some additional FAQs to help you understand the requirements:
So what’s this “nexus” the IRS is talking about?
To defend your claim for your R&D Credit, you not only have to show that the work qualifies as R&D, but you have to “contemporaneously” link the costs associated with the project to the activities. Qualified costs include in-house labor, supplies consumed, and third-party contractors utilized while completing each qualified project. Ultimately, Armor’s job is to make it easy for you to link these resources to the projects as they’re used in executing the work. Remember, “easy” means “one minute a day” – so don’t get overwhelmed, Titan Armor will take care of it.
What projects should I track?
Any new or improved “Business Component” is potentially R&D. Per IRC section 41(d)(2)(B), there are six Business Component types: products, processes, software, techniques, formulas and inventions. To learn more about how to evaluate your activities against these Business Component types, watch the “What’s it all About” video at the top of this page.
Do I have to rethink how I run my work?
Every manufacturer in America has their own way of executing their work. Armor was designed to be extremely customizable, to document your unique work flow processes. You can run Titan Armor using your own terminology and logical sequencing of project activities. No heavy training necessary – start today to capture your project activities and resources.
Really, one minute a day?
Really. Which employees spend at least 15-20% of their time each week on R&D activities (roughly 6-8 hours per week)? In Armor, these employees can building the necessary R&D Credit documentation at the end of their day in less than sixty seconds. Remember–it has to be fast and easy, or it won’t get done!
Did we answer all you questions? If not, email or call us - we’ll answer them quickly so you can move forward in documenting your R&D activities per the IRS requirements.
