Workshops
A workshop puts your engineers, finance team and a credit specialist in one room and leaves you with concrete output and a short action plan.
What's included
- Defined and prioritised list of candidate qualifying projects, subject to specialist qualification review
- First-pass expense allocation agreed with finance
- Documentation routine and templates in use by your teams
- Written summary and thirty-day action plan
Who this service is for
Teams starting a documentation program or resetting one that has drifted.
Discuss this service (opens in a new tab)How it works
Step 1: Work through your projects
The day is structured around your actual projects. We walk the technical team through the four-part test using their own work, capture the uncertainty and experimentation as they describe it, and record it in a structured format on the spot, linked to existing project records. Accounts of past work given in a workshop supplement, but do not replace, contemporaneous documentation.
Step 2: Map the costs
Finance participates in parallel, mapping the described activity to cost centres, payroll records and vendor spend so the qualitative and quantitative sides of the claim are built together rather than reconciled later.
Step 3: Leave with a position
By the close of the session you have a defined project list, a working expense allocation and a documentation routine your teams have already practised.
Where creditARMOR helps
The parts of the platform this service draws on.
- Upload your claim, one IDR-style response per projectStart from the claim as filed: Form 6765 and your state credit claim form. See the feature
- Smart upload checklistA checklist for the evidence behind the claim, across 11 categories, from payroll and time tracking to project documents and contracts. See the feature
- Shared resultsShare the report and exports with your CFO, your CPA firm or your specialist, so everyone works from the same evidence and the same score. See the feature
Related services
- 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.
- Audit ReadinessStress-test an existing or planned claim against the evidence standards examiners commonly apply.
- Compliance ReviewAn independent second opinion on methodology, base period calculations and multi-state apportionment.
- Documentation BuilderCapture engineering activity as it happens so project narratives are supported by contemporaneous records — continuously, not annually.
Common questions
What are the four parts of the qualification test?
The activity must have a permitted purpose: the costs must be eligible research or experimental expenditures (IRC sections 174 and 174A), and the research must relate to a new or improved business component (a product, process, computer software, technique, formula or invention) and aim to improve its function, performance, reliability or quality. It must be technological in nature, meaning the process of experimentation fundamentally relies on principles of the physical or biological sciences, engineering or computer science. It must be intended to discover information that would eliminate uncertainty about the capability or method for developing or improving the business component, or about its appropriate design. And substantially all (at least 80%) of the activities for the business component must be elements of a process of experimentation, such as modelling, simulation or systematic trial and error, used to evaluate one or more alternatives.
Does my company need a laboratory to qualify?
No. Qualification turns on a four-part test, not on job titles or facilities. Software teams, manufacturers, engineering firms, food and beverage producers, agricultural technology businesses and many others can qualify when they resolve technical uncertainty through a process of experimentation and the activities are not excluded. Software developed primarily for internal use must also meet the high threshold of innovation test.
How is an engagement priced?
The creditARMOR mock audit is free. Scoping is also free, and for separate Swanson Reed services pricing is agreed before work begins, based on the size and complexity of the engagement. We do not price documentation or examination support work as a percentage of an unverified estimate.
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.