We stand behind your R&D claim
Every Ricerca R&D tax credit study includes Audit Protection. If the IRS examines the claim, we prepare the response and defend the study’s technical position alongside your tax preparer, so the people who built the claim are the ones explaining it.
- Included with every R&D credit study
- Limited to the R&D study and credits
- Terms set by your engagement agreement
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 R&D credit 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.
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.
Audit Protection covers R&D credit studies. Cost segregation studies are built to the IRS Audit Techniques Guide and kept with an examination-ready workpaper binder. How a cost segregation study is built.
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
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.
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Step 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.
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Step 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.
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Step 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.
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Step 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.
- Source systems: Payroll and HRIS; Ledger and engineering tickets.
- Evidence: Time and cost records; Contemporaneous project records.
- Component narratives: One per business component; Four-part test applied to each.
- QRE workpapers: By category and by employee; Tied to the ledger accounts.
- Form 6765 lines: Section A or B, and Section G; Each line tied to a workpaper.
- Audit-defense binder: Indexed exhibits per component; Provenance for every figure.
- Every number traces back to a source row
Audit Protection, frequently asked
Is Audit Protection included, or is it an add-on?
Who actually represents us before the IRS?
What exactly does Audit Protection cover?
What is not covered?
What happens if the information I provided wasn’t accurate?
Does Audit Protection mean the IRS will allow the credit?
How do I trigger Audit Protection?
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.
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 with no obligation.