R&D Tax Credit Feasibility Review
Before paying for a full study, find out whether your activities may qualify. We screen your development work and expenses against the federal research-credit tests and deliver a written suitability summary from an Enrolled Agent: a flat $750, credited toward the next step if you proceed.
Secure checkout via Stripe. Prepared by an Enrolled Agent. Final scope confirmed in writing before any work begins.
In short: The R&D Tax Credit Feasibility Review is a flat-fee screening for businesses considering the federal research credit. Before you pay for a full study, we evaluate your development activities and expenses against the research-credit tests and deliver a written suitability summary from an Enrolled Agent, with the fee credited toward the next step if you proceed.
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What's Included
- Structured interview about your development activities
- Screening against the four-part test (Section 41)
- High-level review of candidate expense categories
- Payroll tax offset eligibility screening for qualifying small businesses
- Written suitability summary from an Enrolled Agent
- Clear go / no-go recommendation with next-step scope and pricing
Timing: Scope and timing are confirmed in writing before an engagement begins.
Not included:
- Quantified credit estimate (deep feasibility engagement)
- Full R&D credit study and documentation (quoted per case)
- Amended returns or credit claims
What Happens After You Purchase
- 1Secure checkout via Stripe
- 2Your client portal invitation arrives by email
- 3Upload your documents securely
- 4Prepared and delivered by an Enrolled Agent
"Arc & Ledger provided exceptional service, making my tax preparation seamless and stress-free."
- Christian S.
A Disciplined First Look at the Research Credit
The federal research credit can be a meaningful incentive for businesses that build things: software, hardware, formulations, processes. It is also frequently oversold, with large credits pitched to businesses whose activities were never evaluated against the legal tests.
This review starts with the tests. We interview you about your development work, screen your activities and expense categories against the four-part test in the tax code, and give you a written suitability summary from an Enrolled Agent. The conclusion is stated plainly either way: a clear case for going deeper, or a clear explanation of why the credit is not a fit today.
Payroll Tax Offset for Startups
Federal law allows qualifying small businesses to elect to apply a portion of the research credit against employer payroll taxes rather than income tax. For early-stage companies that are not yet profitable, that election can make the credit relevant years before the first profitable return. The review screens whether your business may qualify for the election.
Feasibility Review
- Structured development-activity interview
- Four-part test screening (Section 41)
- Candidate expense category review
- Payroll tax offset eligibility screening
- Written suitability summary from an Enrolled Agent
- Go / no-go recommendation with next-step pricing
The Four-Part Test We Screen Against
Federal law defines qualified research with four requirements. An activity must satisfy all four - and the review measures your actual work against each one.
Permitted Purpose
The work must aim to create or improve the functionality, performance, reliability, or quality of a product, process, software, technique, formula, or invention.
Technological in Nature
The activity must fundamentally rely on principles of the hard sciences: engineering, computer science, physics, chemistry, or biology.
Elimination of Uncertainty
At the outset, there must be genuine uncertainty about capability, method, or appropriate design - not just routine implementation of a known solution.
Process of Experimentation
Substantially all of the activity must involve evaluating alternatives: modeling, simulation, systematic trial and error, prototyping, or testing.
From Screening to Study: A Staged Approach
You move to the next stage only when the previous one supports it.
Feasibility Review
Screening of your activities and expenses against the four-part test, with a written suitability summary and a go / no-go recommendation.
Deep Feasibility
A deeper engagement that maps qualifying projects, gathers expense data, and produces a quantified estimate of the potential credit range so you can decide on a full study with real numbers.
Full R&D Credit Study
Complete documentation of qualified research activities and expenses, credit computation, and filing support. Scoped and quoted individually after deep feasibility - never sold off the shelf.
The full study is quoted per case based on the number of projects, years, and expense complexity identified in deep feasibility. No stage guarantees a credit or a specific amount.
Common Candidate Activities
These types of work frequently raise the question of whether the research credit applies. Only a screening against the four-part test can say whether yours may qualify.
Software Development
Building new applications, platforms, algorithms, or architectures where the design or method was genuinely uncertain at the outset - not routine maintenance or configuration.
Engineering
Designing and testing new or improved products, components, manufacturing processes, or tooling through prototyping, modeling, or systematic iteration.
Product Formulation
Developing new formulations, materials, or recipes in food, cosmetics, chemicals, or supplements where alternatives were evaluated through structured testing.
How every engagement is checked
Every engagement runs through the same written procedure. It is the reason the fee is what it is, and you can hold us to it.
- 1Scope and fee in writing before any work begins.
- 2Documents arrive through the secure client portal, not as email attachments.
- 3A second review on a different day, against a written checklist, before anything is filed.
- 4If the IRS writes about a return we prepared, reviewing the notice with you is free. Any response or representation beyond that review is quoted in writing first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this service area.
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Learn MoreRequest a Feasibility Review
A full research-credit study is a significant engagement. The $750 review screens whether your activities may qualify first, and the fee is credited toward the next step if you proceed. Scope and timing are confirmed in writing before an engagement begins.
Arc & Ledger takes on work selectively. Each request is reviewed for fit with our practice areas, and scope and timing are confirmed in writing before an engagement begins.
“Arc & Ledger provided exceptional service, making my tax preparation seamless and stress-free.”– Christian S., Google Review
A secure Client Portal invitation is sent only after Arc & Ledger accepts the engagement or you purchase an available fixed-scope service. A call, waitlist entry, or contact form alone does not create portal access.