Florida R&D Tax Credit Case Study

The Research and Development (R&D) tax credit is one of the most valuable credits leveraged by companies. The R&D credit yields billions of dollars in federal and state benefits to companies engaged in qualifying research. The R&D tax credit can provide a significant reduction to current and future tax liabilities and a source of cash in Florida.

Benefits

  • Up to 13.5 cents of R&D tax credit for every qualified dollar
  • Dollar-for-dollar reduction in your federal and state income tax liability
  • Credit carried forward up to 20 years

Qualifications

More companies in Florida can now qualify for the R&D tax credit. Companies are able to qualify R&D activities beginning with the development of concepts and extending to the point where a product, process, formula, or other business component is ready to be commercially released. If you are engaged in any research activities, looking into a potential R&D tax credit may be a great benefit. In addition, look back studies can recognize unclaimed credits for the last 3 or 4 open tax years.

Florida R&D Tax Credit Case Study

An Orlando company designs and develops component parts for the aviation industry, a qualified target business industry for Florida's R&D tax credit.  The Company started R&D in 2017 and claims R&D credits each year for the development activities of its engineers. The company submits its application and is awarded an R&D credit for the 2021 tax year. Prior year Florida QREs for 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 are as follows: $600,000, $700,000, $800,000, and $900,000, respectively. The Federal credit calculated below is utilizing the Alternative Simplified Method.

FEDERAL
FLORIDA
Year
Total QREs
Credit
Total QREs
Credit
2021
$1,000,000
$84,000
$1,000,000
 $25,000

Four-Part Test

Qualified research activities are defined by the four-part test outlined below

Technological in Nature
Activities must fundamentally rely on the principles of physical or biological science, engineering, or computer science.

Permitted Purpose
Activities must be performed in an attempt to improve the functionality, performance, reliability, or quality of a new or existing business component.

Eliminate Uncertainty
Activities intended to discover information that could eliminate technical uncertainty concerning the development or improvement of a product.

Experimentation
All activities must include a process of experimentation including testing, modeling, simulating, and systematic trial and error.

Research and Development Tax Insights

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