Florida R&D credit rules for TY2026
Each row is a field from the registry entry our engine applies. A blank field says so; it is never filled in.
Program flags on this entry
- Program cap
- $9,000,000
- Award proration (historical)
- Approved applicants received about 5.5% of their computed credit in a recent award cycle; the registry entry does not date the ratio.
- Application window
- March 20-26 (for prior calendar-year expenses)
- Certification required
- Florida Dept. of Commerce target-industry certification + federal §41 credit allowed; the credit is NOT claimable without it.
- Credit for TY2026
- Current credit Yes. Our rules registry carries a current Florida research credit for tax year 2026.
- Structure
- Incremental: the credit applies to qualified research expenses above a state base amount
- Credit rate
- 10% of qualified research expenses above the base amount
- Base method
- The base amount is the formula Florida's own statute prescribes, not the federal §41(c) fixed-base computation. The registry does not carry a written description of that formula for this state, so the study establishes it against the statute cited below.
- Carryforward
- 5 years
- Carryback
- None recorded
- Refundable?
- Not determined in our registry - we confirm it in the study The registry treats an unverified "nonrefundable" as unknown rather than asserting it.
- State form
- F-1196
- Statute
- Fla. Stat. §220.196
How the Florida credit is computed
The Florida credit is incremental: it applies to the qualified research expenses that exceed a state base amount, not to the whole year's spending. The registry carries a rate of 10%.
The base amount is the formula Florida's own statute prescribes, not the federal §41(c) fixed-base computation. The registry does not carry a written description of that formula for this state, so the study establishes it against the statute cited below.
Eligibility is gated before any arithmetic matters: Florida Dept. of Commerce target-industry certification + federal §41 credit allowed; the credit is NOT claimable without it. The program is capped at $9,000,000 a year across all applicants, and approved claims are prorated against that cap: the registry carries a proration rate of 5.5%, meaning approved applicants received about 5.5% of their computed credit in the cycle the registry records. The award ratio moves every cycle and is not known when you apply. The credit is applied for, not simply claimed on the return: March 20-26 (for prior calendar-year expenses). Missing the window forfeits the year. The computed number is a ceiling, not an entitlement.
Unused credit carries forward 5 years. Refundability: not determined in our registry, so the study confirms it against the statute rather than asserting it here.
Ricerca computes the Florida figure from the same substantiated expenses as the federal §41 credit, under the registry entry for the year claimed. Where the registry is silent, the study says so and the point is resolved with your return preparer, not assumed.
Claiming it alongside the federal credit
The federal §41 credit comes first: it is computed from the qualified research expenses the study substantiates and filed on Form 6765 with the return. The Florida credit is then computed from that same base under the state's own rules.
State credits generally reach only research performed in the state, so the study records where each expense was incurred as it is built, not at filing time.
One base, two computations
- 1 Qualify the activities under the four-part test and total the year's QREs.
- 2 Compute the federal §41 credit and file it on Form 6765.
- 3 Apply the Florida entry above to the Florida share of that base, and file it on F-1196.
Registry sources
The citations the Florida registry entry carries, verbatim: what the study cites and a reviewer can check.
- Statute
- Fla. Stat. §220.196
- Form
- F-1196
Registry entry version 2024.1, exported from services/study-api/app/engines/rules_engine.py (STATE_RULES_2024 + STATE_RULES_REGIME_OVERRIDES via RulesEngine.get_state_rules) on September 10, 2026. The entry above governs TY2026; a study for an earlier year uses that year's entry.
See what a Florida study could capture
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