A dollar-for-dollar tax credit for the work your company is already doing
The R&D Tax Credit rewards companies that invest in developing or improving products, processes, software, or technology — providing a direct reduction of federal and state tax liability for qualified research expenses.
[Schedule a Credit Assessment]
What Makes Mantle Different
Senior-led, every engagement. No leverage model. The person you meet is the person doing the work.
Fixed-fee, billed in milestones. No hourly bleed, no scope creep, no contingent arrangements.
Big 4 trained. Founded by a CPA with years of specialty tax experience at Deloitte, KPMG, and PwC.
Audit defense included. 35 hours of exam support comes with every engagement.
Federal and state. Mantle captures state credits across the 36 states with their own R&D incentives.
About the R&D Tax Credit
The Research & Development Tax Credit, governed by Internal Revenue Code §41, is one of the most valuable incentives in the federal tax code. The credit rewards U.S. companies for the technical work they're already doing — engineering, software development, process improvement, product development, and formulation work.
Eligible R&D expenses typically include W-2 wages for technical employees, payments to U.S.-based contractors performing qualifying research, materials used in development, and certain cloud computing costs.
The credit is permanent, available at the federal and state level, and accessible to companies of every size — from early-stage startups offsetting payroll tax to mid-market companies reducing federal income tax liability by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
What the OBBBA Changes for the R&D Tax Credit
On July 4, 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) was signed into law — delivering one of the most favorable updates to R&D tax treatment in years.
Since 2022, Section 174 forced businesses to capitalize and amortize domestic R&D expenses over five years instead of deducting them immediately. This tied up cash, delayed tax savings, and made planning harder for innovation-driven companies.
The OBBBA reverses that requirement permanently. Beginning in 2025, companies can immediately expense domestic R&D costs in the year they occur. Small businesses with $31 million or less in average annual gross receipts can also amend 2022, 2023, and 2024 returns to claim retroactive refunds — potentially recovering significant cash from previously capitalized R&D expenses.
For companies that have been investing in R&D over the past three years, OBBBA creates a meaningful refund opportunity that closes within a defined window. Mantle helps clients evaluate whether retroactive amendment makes sense and captures both the historical refund and the prospective credit going forward.
How Mantle Approaches the Work
R&D credit work isn't a forms exercise. It's a technical study built on a specific company's facts, defended through documentation that holds up to IRS scrutiny.
1. Complimentary Scoping Every engagement begins with a no-cost assessment. Mantle reviews your operations, identifies qualifying activities, and provides a substantive estimate of your federal and state credit potential before any fees are discussed.
2. Technical Discovery, On-Site or Remote Mantle conducts working sessions with your engineering, product, and finance teams to understand the actual work behind the credit. Documentation review, project analysis, QRE quantification — never templated, never assumed.
3. AI-Enhanced, Human-Led Execution Mantle leverages AI to enhance quality, reduce engagement time, and minimize disruption to your team. But every study remains human-led at every critical decision point. The IRS expects substantive professional judgment behind R&D credit claims, and that's what we deliver — technology amplifying expertise, not replacing it.
4. Defensible Documentation Studies are built to withstand IRS scrutiny — contemporaneous documentation, clear nexus between activities and QREs, and methodology grounded in §41, Treasury regulations, published IRS guidance, and Tax Court precedent.
5. Exam Support Included Every engagement includes 35 hours of audit defense, which covers the vast majority of IRS examinations. Mantle stands behind every study filed.
Industries We Serve
R&D credits apply across industries wherever companies are solving technical problems. Mantle has direct experience capturing credits for:
Manufacturing — Process improvement, custom engineering, prototype development, automation, tooling, materials development, production optimization.
Software & Technology — Product development, platform engineering, AI/ML, infrastructure, cybersecurity, proprietary technology.
Life Sciences & Biotech — Product development, formulation, clinical and analytical processes, manufacturing scale-up, quality systems.
Engineering, Architecture & Construction — Custom design, structural engineering, sustainable design, complex systems integration, specialty construction methods.
Other Industries — Food and beverage formulation, agricultural technology, oil and gas, fintech, hemp, and any company developing or improving products, processes, or technology.
If your team solves technical problems and iterates toward solutions, there's a strong chance R&D credits apply.
