Filing guide, cited to official Pennsylvania sources
How to claim the Pennsylvania R&D credit
These steps, forms and dates are procedure taken from official Pennsylvania publications, listed under "Sources for this section" and verified on . The rate, base and carryforward figures on this page come from Ricerca's rules registry.
Step by step
- 1 Confirm eligibility. The applicant must be subject to Corporate Net Income Tax or Personal Income Tax, have research expenses for qualified research conducted in Pennsylvania, have had at least two years of R&D expenditure, and be in compliance with Pennsylvania tax laws.
- 2 Set up a myPATH account. The application is filed online with the Department of Revenue.
- 3 Gather the application data: federal Form 6765 figures (or the same information if you did not file one), expenditures for each Pennsylvania project and location, direct wages with your PA employer withholding ID, the payees behind any subcontracted labor, 1 to 4 prior years of expenditures, every owner of 20% or more, and an officer to sign.
- 4 Write a description for each project covering the elimination of uncertainty, the process of experimentation, its technological nature and its qualified purpose. Revenue asks for each one.
- 5 Submit between August 1 and December 1. The application covers qualified Pennsylvania research expenditures made in the taxable year ending in the prior calendar year. A submitted application can be changed only until 10 PM the same day.
- 6 Watch for the award. Revenue has until May 1 of the following year to notify applicants of approved amounts. Awards come from a $60 million annual cap, $12 million of it set aside for small businesses, and are prorated when requests exceed the cap.
- 7 Use the credit against Corporate Net Income Tax or Personal Income Tax, or apply to DCED for approval to sell the unused credit.
Federal Form 6765, line by line Estimate the federal credit State R&D credits in 2026: rates and refundability
Key dates
- Application window
- Opens August 1; all applications must be completed and submitted by December 1. The 2026 window covers expenditures in taxable years ending in 2025. Source
- Award notice
- The Department of Revenue has until May 1 of the following year to notify applicants of their approved credit amounts. Source
Which form to file
| Form | Who files it | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Research and Development Tax Credit applicationOnline in myPATH, PA Department of Revenue | Businesses and individuals subject to Corporate Net Income Tax or Personal Income Tax with qualified research in Pennsylvania | Official page |
| R&D Sale and Assignment ApplicationDCED application | Holders of awarded credits seeking approval to sell or assign unused credit | Official page |
Who can claim it
- The credit is available to businesses and individuals performing qualified research in Pennsylvania.
- Small business means a for-profit corporation, limited liability company, partnership or proprietorship with net book value of assets under $5 million. Small-business applicants include a balance sheet showing total assets under $5 million at the beginning of the year.
- Applicants that are not compliant for state tax clearance do not receive a credit. Revenue may request more information by mail, including an onsite audit, and a late response leads to denial.
Program rules worth knowing
- Credits may be sold or assigned with DCED approval. Only unused credit above any collectible tax liability can be sold, the seller must be current on state tax filing and payment, and an S corporation cannot sell credit it has passed through to shareholders.
- A buyer can use a purchased credit against up to 75% of a qualified tax liability in the taxable year of the transfer, and cannot carry it forward, carry it back, get a refund of it, or reassign it.
- The sale of a credit is a taxable transaction for income tax purposes, and Revenue reports taxable transactions to the IRS.
Pennsylvania R&D tax credit FAQ
When is the Pennsylvania R&D tax credit application due?
Will I receive the full credit I compute?
Can Pennsylvania R&D tax credits be sold?
Who counts as a small business for the Pennsylvania credit?
Sources for this section
The Pennsylvania filing guide and FAQ above are drawn from these official publications and were verified on . They are re-checked each year and whenever a listed deadline passes.
- Research and Development Tax Credit Program (Pennsylvania Department of Revenue)
- Research and Development Tax Credit Program: How to Apply (Pennsylvania Department of Revenue)
- The Research and Development Tax Credit Report to the General Assembly, October 1, 2025 (Pennsylvania Department of Revenue)
- R&D Tax Credit Assignment Program (Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development)
Pennsylvania 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
- $60,000,000
- Award proration (historical)
- Approved applicants received about 44.3% of their computed credit in the 2024 award cycle.
- Application deadline
- December 1
- Application opens
- August 1
- Credit for TY2026
- Current credit Yes. Our rules registry carries a current Pennsylvania 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
- Small-business rate
- 20% Applied where the state’s small-business definition is met.
- Base method
- The base amount is the formula Pennsylvania'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. The registry carries a base percentage of 50%. That is the statutory minimum base amount (§41(c)(2) as incorporated by the Pennsylvania statute): a floor under the base, and therefore a ceiling on the credit, not the base itself. Where Pennsylvania gross-receipts and fixed-base-percentage history is not on record the engine applies that floor and blocks issuance until the real base is substantiated.
- Carryforward
- 15 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.
- Small-business threshold
- $5,000,000
- Small-business credit cap
- $12,000,000
- State form
- Online application in myPATH (REV-545 series); the awarded credit is used against Corporate Net Income Tax or Personal Income Tax Registry update pending: verified against the official Pennsylvania source on September 28, 2026; it replaces an out-of-date form in the rules registry our engine reads.
- Statute
- 72 P.S. §8701-B et seq. (Article XVII-B; Act 7 of 1997)
How the Pennsylvania credit is computed
The Pennsylvania 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%. A small-business rate of 20% sits alongside it.
The base amount is the formula Pennsylvania'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. The registry carries a base percentage of 50%. That is the statutory minimum base amount (§41(c)(2) as incorporated by the Pennsylvania statute): a floor under the base, and therefore a ceiling on the credit, not the base itself. Where Pennsylvania gross-receipts and fixed-base-percentage history is not on record the engine applies that floor and blocks issuance until the real base is substantiated.
The program is capped at $60,000,000 a year across all applicants, and approved claims are prorated against that cap: the registry carries a proration rate of 44.3%, meaning approved applicants received about 44.3% 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: applications open August 1, the deadline is December 1. Missing the window forfeits the year. The computed number is a ceiling, not an entitlement.
Unused credit carries forward 15 years. Refundability: not determined in our registry, so the study confirms it against the statute rather than asserting it here.
Ricerca computes the Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania entry above to the Pennsylvania share of that base, and file it on Online application in myPATH (REV-545 series); the awarded credit is used against Corporate Net Income Tax or Personal Income Tax.
Registry sources
The citations the Pennsylvania registry entry carries, verbatim: what the study cites and a reviewer can check.
- Statute
- 72 P.S. §8701-B et seq. (Article XVII-B; Act 7 of 1997)
- Form (registry update pending)
- Online application in myPATH (REV-545 series); the awarded credit is used against Corporate Net Income Tax or Personal Income Tax
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 Pennsylvania study could capture
Tell us what your team builds and we will come back with what a Ricerca study could capture: the federal §41 credit, the Pennsylvania credit above it, and the §174A deduction. Free, and no obligation.