R&D Tax Credit Calculator

Enter your annual R&D expenses for each tax year, select the states where your employees work, and choose your industry. The calculator uses these inputs to estimate your potential federal and state R&D tax credits.

Most companies use the Alternative Simplified Credit (ASC) method: 14 percent of qualified research expenses above 50 percent of the average QREs from the prior three years. Worked example: with $500,000 of current-year QREs and a $300,000 three-year average, the base is 50 percent of $300,000 ($150,000), leaving $350,000 above the base. The ASC credit is 14 percent of $350,000, or $49,000, before any state credit. The regular method is 20 percent above a historical base amount.

What you need to estimate your credit: annual qualified research expenses (W-2 wages for R&D staff, supplies consumed in development, cloud/compute costs, and 65 percent of U.S. contract research), the states where your R&D employees work, and your industry.

The calculator provides an indicative estimate for informational purposes only. Actual credit amounts depend on detailed analysis of your qualified research expenditures. Contact Strike for an exact calculation.

Include wages for employees involved in R&D, supplies used in research, cloud computing costs for development, and contract research expenses. These are categorized as Qualified Research Expenditures (QREs).