Free R&D tax credit mock audit. creditARMOR and TaxTrex are products of Swanson Reed.
Find the gaps in your R&D credit file before an examiner does.
creditARMOR runs a mock R&D tax audit on your federal and state research credit claim: simulated examiner questions, your evidence scored, and a fix plan, so you can strengthen the claim before any examination.
creditARMOR is a free service: no card and no subscription. Passing this mock audit does not guarantee that your claim will pass an IRS examination.
creditARMOR is an independent simulation. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Internal Revenue Service or any state tax agency.
creditARMOR in numbers
- Federal and state programs tracked
- 39
- Test applied to every project
- 4-part
- Maximum annual payroll tax offset for qualified small businesses
- $500k
- Federal credit carryforward
- 20 yrs
How the mock audit works
From your Form 6765 to a risk report per project
Four steps on your own claim. You upload the forms you filed or plan to file, and the mock audit reads the projects out of them where Section G lists them; otherwise you enter each business component.
Step 01
Upload your claim forms
Form 6765, your state claim form and the prior-year forms. Where Section G is completed, the mock audit reads out the business components listed there for you to confirm. Section G is optional for all filers for tax years beginning before 2026, and in later years for qualified small businesses electing the payroll tax offset and filers with total QREs of $1.5 million or less and gross receipts of $50 million or less that report the credit on an original return (the small-filer exception does not apply to amended returns or refund claims), so you can also enter business components yourself.
Step 02
Add the evidence behind each project
Payroll and wage records, time tracking, project documents, technical specifications, test logs and results, contracts and SOWs. Each of the eleven evidence categories ticks off as its file arrives. TaxTrex subscribers can add the position paper too. creditARMOR and TaxTrex are products of Swanson Reed.
Step 03
Read the likely examiner questions, answered
One draft IDR-style response per project, a page or two per answer, each question rated Strong, Weak or Missing against your documents. Download as Word, PDF or Google Docs.
Step 04
Fix the gaps before any examination
An audit-readiness score per project and company-wide (a higher score is better), red flags, and a fix plan ordered by what matters most. Tick a fix as done and watch the score move.
Free R&D mock audit · Completely free
A free R&D mock audit: see how your claim is likely to look to an examiner
Test your R&D credit claim with a free mock audit. For each project it drafts questions modeled on those IRS and state examiners commonly ask, scores the evidence behind every answer, measures the audit risk and turns each gap into a fix.
Completely freecreditARMOR is a free service. Passing this mock audit does not guarantee that your claim will pass an IRS examination. To get access, book a call or email hello@creditarmor.ai.
What the free R&D mock audit includesRead the R&D tax audit guide
State check
The federal and state programs that apply, and the rules that need verifying.
Draft IDR
The questions an examiner is likely to ask, answered from your file, per project.
AI cross-check
Every answer is checked against its evidence by multiple AI models, with disagreements flagged for your review. If requested, a person at Swanson Reed can review your mock audit results and re-perform the mock audit for assurance.
Risk report and fix plan
Scores per project and company-wide, red flags, and the fixes that move them.
Simple process
See how it works
A short walkthrough of the platform, from the first review to the mock audit.
What we do
A complete research credit function, without building one in-house
Eight service lines that cover the full lifecycle of a claim: finding it, calculating it, documenting it and preparing for examination.
- AI-Powered R&D Tax Credit ReviewMachine-assisted analysis of your projects, payroll and ledgers to estimate your credit and identify documentation gaps before you file. — Learn more
- Audit ReadinessStress-test an existing or planned claim against the evidence standards examiners commonly apply. — Learn more
- Compliance ReviewAn independent second opinion on methodology, base period calculations and multi-state apportionment. — Learn more
- Documentation BuilderCapture engineering activity as it happens so project narratives are supported by contemporaneous records — continuously, not annually. — Learn more
- Audit Defense SupportFacing an R&D tax credit examination? We help assess your claim, organize supporting evidence and prepare for the examiner's questions. If needed, Swanson Reed can assist you with representation before the IRS. — Learn more
- Risk AssessmentQuantify exposure across open tax years before a lender, acquirer or examiner does it for you. — Learn more
- Professional TrainingPractical R&D credit training for CPA firms, in-house tax teams and finance functions. — Learn more
- WorkshopsFacilitated one-day working sessions that produce a candidate project list, a first-pass expense allocation and a documentation routine your teams can use. — Learn more
Credit database
Federal and 38 state R&D credit programs, in one searchable place
Rates, refundability, carryforward periods, pre-approval requirements and official links — kept in a structure designed to grow into new states and countries.
Run a free R&D tax credit mock audit.
You can also book a free thirty-minute scoping call with a specialist. Upload your files and see how your evidence would hold up to the questions an IRS examiner is likely to ask. A higher score means a more audit-ready claim.
creditARMOR is a free service. Passing this mock audit does not guarantee that your claim will pass an IRS examination. Book a call or email hello@creditarmor.ai for a login.