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We stand behind your R&D claim

Every Ricerca R&D tax credit study includes Audit Protection. If the IRS examines the R&D tax credit claim from your study, we prepare the response, provide the examiner with the documentation they request, and defend the study’s technical position - working alongside your tax preparer, so the people who built the claim are the ones explaining it.

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A hand reviewing a fan of printed documents spread across a conference table
An examination is answered with documents. Audit Protection is the commitment to assemble and defend them.Photo by Dimitri Karastelev on Unsplash

If the IRS comes knocking, we answer

Audit Protection turns a defensible study into a defended one. Here is exactly what that means - and who does what.

We prepare the response

If the IRS examines the R&D tax credit claim from your Ricerca study, we assemble the response: the workpapers, the business-component detail, and the information the examiner asked for.

We defend the study’s technical position

We stand behind the qualification calls and computations we made, and work alongside your tax preparer to answer the examiner’s questions about them.

Included with every study

Audit Protection comes with every Ricerca R&D tax credit study - part of the work, not a separate purchase you have to remember to make.

Who does what, precisely

Practice before the IRS is generally limited to the taxpayer itself and to federally authorized practitioners - attorneys, CPAs, enrolled agents, and others authorized under Circular 230. So we are specific about our role rather than vague about it: Ricerca prepares the audit response, supplies the documentation, and defends the technical position of the study we built, working alongside the tax preparer who signed and filed your return. Where formal representation before the examiner is required, it is performed by a credentialed practitioner - typically your own preparer, or one arranged under your engagement agreement.

Scope

Limited to your R&D study and credits - and nothing else

So there is no confusion later, here is precisely what Audit Protection does and does not cover.

What’s covered

  • The R&D tax credit study we prepared for you
  • The related federal R&D tax credits in that study
  • The substantiation and documentation behind the R&D claim
  • The technical defense of the positions we took in the study

What’s not covered

  • Any other part of your tax return
  • Other tax years or studies we did not prepare
  • Other credits or deductions (outside the R&D credit)
  • State or local taxes
  • Payroll, employment, sales, or other taxes
  • Penalties and interest
  • Any matter unrelated to the R&D study and credits

In plain terms: Audit Protection applies only to the R&D tax credit study and the related federal R&D tax credits we prepared for you. It does not cover any other tax, year, credit, deduction, penalty, or matter.

Important condition

Audit Protection depends on the accuracy of your information

Our study - and this protection - relies entirely on the accuracy and completeness of the information, records, and representations you provide for the study.

If any of the information you give us is inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading, Audit Protection does not apply. In that case we are not responsible under it, and we will not prepare or defend a response to an IRS problem that results from that inaccurate information.

The bottom line: give us complete, accurate information, and we stand behind the study. That is the deal, and it is the same deal that makes the study worth having.

From a finalized study to a defended claim

  1. 1

    We finalize your study

    Our R&D experts review and finalize your study before it is issued - built from the start to answer the questions an examiner asks first.

  2. 2

    If the IRS examines the R&D claim

    You send us the notice as soon as you receive it, and loop in the preparer who signed the return.

  3. 3

    We prepare and defend the response

    We draft the reply, pull the substantiation, and defend the study’s technical position alongside your preparer. Representation before the IRS, where it is needed, is performed by credentialed practitioners.

  4. 4

    Conditions apply

    Protection is limited to the R&D study and credits, and depends on the accuracy of the information you provided - see below.

The reason step 3 is manageable is that step 1 did the work. A Ricerca study is assembled the way an examiner reads one - business component by business component, each mapped to the four-part test of §41(d), with the qualified research expenses traced to payroll, ledger, and project records. See what that substantiation looks like.

  1. Source systems: Payroll and HRIS; Ledger and engineering tickets.
  2. Evidence: Time and cost records; Contemporaneous project records.
  3. Component narratives: One per business component; Four-part test applied to each.
  4. QRE workpapers: By category and by employee; Tied to the ledger accounts.
  5. Form 6765 lines: Section A or B, and Section G; Each line tied to a workpaper.
  6. Audit-defense binder: Indexed exhibits per component; Provenance for every figure.
  7. Every number traces back to a source row
Illustrative structure of the substantiation chain behind a study. What a given engagement can evidence depends on the records it actually has.

Audit Protection - frequently asked questions

Is Audit Protection included, or is it an add-on?
It’s included with every Ricerca R&D tax credit study at no additional cost. There is no separate plan to buy - standing behind our work is part of the engagement.
Who actually represents us before the IRS?
We are deliberately precise about this, because the roles are legally distinct. Practice before the IRS is generally limited to the taxpayer itself and to federally authorized practitioners - attorneys, CPAs, enrolled agents, and others authorized under Circular 230. Ricerca’s role under Audit Protection is to prepare the audit response, assemble the documentation, and defend the technical position of the study we built, working alongside the tax preparer who signed and filed your return. Where formal representation before the examiner is needed, it is performed by a credentialed practitioner - typically your own preparer, or one arranged under your engagement agreement, which sets out the specific arrangement.
What exactly does Audit Protection cover?
The R&D tax credit study we prepared and the related federal R&D tax credits - and only those. If the IRS examines that R&D claim, we prepare the response, provide the documentation requested, and defend the technical position of the study.
What is not covered?
Audit Protection does not extend to any other part of your tax return, other tax years or studies we didn’t prepare, other credits or deductions, state or local taxes, payroll or other taxes, or penalties and interest. It covers the R&D study and the related federal R&D tax credits - nothing else.
What happens if the information I provided wasn’t accurate?
Audit Protection depends entirely on the accuracy and completeness of the information, records, and representations you give us. If any of that information is inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading, Audit Protection does not apply - we are not responsible under it, and we will not prepare or defend a response to an IRS problem that results from the inaccurate information.
Does Audit Protection guarantee the IRS will allow the credit?
No. Nobody can guarantee the outcome of an IRS examination, and you should be skeptical of anyone who says otherwise. What we commit to is standing behind our work: subject to your engagement agreement, we prepare the response, supply the substantiation, and defend the positions the study took. The result depends on your facts and on the law applied to them.
How do I trigger Audit Protection?
Contact us as soon as you receive an IRS notice relating to the R&D tax credit from your study, and bring in your tax preparer at the same time. The specific terms are set out in your engagement agreement.

A note on these terms. This page summarizes Audit Protection in plain language. The specific terms, scope, and conditions are governed by the written engagement agreement for your study, which controls if anything here differs from it.

Next: what the examiner actually asks to see, and how a study is built to answer it.

Documentation and audit readiness How a study works

Get a study that’s built to defend

Every Ricerca R&D tax credit study is finalized by our R&D experts and backed by Audit Protection. Tell us about your R&D and we’ll scope it - free, and no obligation.

[email protected] We typically reply within one business day.
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