Keep R&D credit work in-house. Your people prepare, review, sign and file; the CPA Firm Portal drafts, computes and checks the work in between.
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The pipeline in the CPA Firm Portal. Synthetic studies; the board carries no dollar figures.
The subscription is for firms that want the work in-house. When a client is better served by Ricerca running the study, that is a separate, direct engagement.
The subscription
Your firm gets its own workspace in the CPA Firm Portal. Your people prepare §41 studies for your clients on the platform, then review, sign, issue and file them.
An introduction
Introduce the client and they engage Ricerca directly. Our team runs the R&D credit or cost segregation study, and on an R&D credit study Audit Protection applies to that client’s own engagement with Ricerca.
Six areas, each in the portal today. Your seats and terms are set in your firm agreement.
Every client engagement on one board, and the same workbench Ricerca’s own team uses.
Invite a client once; their study, your engagement letter and the invitation go out in your firm’s name.
AI drafts; your people decide. Readiness checks block issue until they are cleared.
The study report, a filing packet keyed to each form line, and pro-forma forms, issued only by your signer.
Seats for your team, roles with clear limits, and taxpayer-identifying data redacted before AI processing.
Read-only API keys and signed webhooks for your own practice systems.
Ricerca sets up your workspace. Everything after that is your firm’s work, on the platform.
A walkthrough of the CPA Firm Portal on synthetic data. If it fits, we agree seats and terms with you in a firm agreement.
We set up your firm’s workspace and send your administrator a secure invitation link.
Set a password and turn on two-factor sign-in, or sign in with Microsoft 365 once the account exists.
Invite partners, managers, staff, reviewers and CPA signers, never above your own role. Each pending invitation holds a seat.
Invite the client contact. Their study, your engagement letter and a secure invitation in your firm’s name go out in one step.
Your team works the study until the readiness checks clear and the sign-offs are recorded. Nothing reaches your client until your signer issues it.
Roll the study forward to the next tax year. Your returning client signs in with the same account.
The roles are legally distinct, so it is worth being exact about them. Ricerca is an R&D tax credit specialist, not a licensed CPA firm, and it does not sign returns or represent anyone before the IRS.
| Stage | The Ricerca platform | Your firm |
|---|---|---|
| Client relationship | Issues your engagement letter and the client’s invitation in your firm’s name. Never charges your client. | Owns the client, and sets and collects your own fees. |
| Intake and data | Takes uploads and connections, reads the ledger and proposes candidate costs. | Approves or rejects every candidate, and can help the client in an audit-logged support session. |
| Qualification and narratives | Drafts a narrative per business component and raises flags for a person to resolve. | Directs each redraft, records the four-part-test determinations and dispositions every flag. |
| Computation | Computes the Regular credit and the ASC on the same QRE base, with the state credit rows. | Sets the positions you want computed, including the §280C(c) posture and any elections. |
| Review and sign-off | Holds the study until every blocking check is cleared. No study auto-issues. | Records engagement quality review, partner positions and CPA approval; your signing CPA e-signs the preparer attestation. |
| Deliverables | Generates, locks and publishes only what your signer issues, and keeps every version. | Issues to the client, and keeps the workpaper binder and the workbook. |
| Filing | Does not sign or file the return, and does not hold itself out as your client’s preparer. | Signs and files the return. |
| Examination | Does not represent anyone before the IRS. Audit Protection does not apply to studies your firm runs. | Answers for the return with the study, the binder and the sign-off register: your firm’s work product. |
Cost segregation is not part of the CPA Firm Portal. Introduce the client and Ricerca prepares the study as a direct engagement with them, while your firm stays the preparer.
What your client receives
Answered precisely, with the limits stated.
The boundary. Your firm signs and files the return. Ricerca does not sign or file returns, and does not represent anyone before the IRS.
Tell us about your firm and the clients you have in mind. We will walk you through the portal on synthetic data and answer your questions.
A guided walkthrough of the CPA Firm Portal.
