We’re pre-profit. Can a startup still claim it?

Yes. Qualified small businesses can apply up to $500K of the federal R&D credit against payroll taxes each year, so you benefit even before you owe income tax.

Do we need patents or breakthrough innovation?

No. The credit rewards the process of experimentation to resolve technical uncertainty — not novelty to the world. Improving your own product counts.

What documentation do we need?

Payroll records, time allocation, and project notes are typically enough. We build the study and substantiation for you as part of the engagement.

How far back can we claim?

Generally the three most recent open tax years, plus the current year going forward.

R&D TAX CREDITS · SOFTWARE & TECHNOLOGY

Your engineering team is writing off the IRS’s tab.

If your team builds software, ships features, or solves technical problems by trial and error, that salary spend likely qualifies for the R&D credit. Free study, zero cost unless we recover.

Check if you qualify — free →

$18.7B

unclaimed every year

$74K

typical recovery in software & technology

3 yrs

back on open returns

cost unless we recover

What qualifies in Software & Technology

If any of this sounds like your day-to-day, you're likely sitting on a credit.

Developing new features, products, or platforms

Architecting and testing new systems or infrastructure

Building and iterating on algorithms or data models

Integrating disparate systems or APIs under technical uncertainty

Improving performance, scalability, or security

Automating manual processes through custom tooling

FREE ESTIMATE · 30 SECONDS

Estimate your R&D tax credit in Software & Technology.

Plug in your rough numbers. We'll show the federal credit range a business like yours typically lands in — then send a detailed breakdown to your inbox.

Annual payroll for technical / engineering staff

Salaries for the people who build, design, test, or engineer.

Contractor & outside dev costs / yr

Counted at 65% per IRS rules for contract research.

Supplies, cloud & software used in development / yr

Materials, prototyping supplies, compute, and dev tooling.

# of technical employees (optional)

Estimated federal R&D credit

$46,500 – $72,000

per year, based on $718,000 in qualified research expenses

Estimate only — not a guarantee. Your actual credit depends on a formal study of your activities, payroll, and tax position. This is a simplified federal estimate and excludes state credits. Bridge works on contingency: $0 unless we recover.

REAL RECOVERY

“We assumed the credit was only for hardware labs. Turned out three years of our dev payroll qualified.”

Series A SaaS company, 22 engineers

Recovered $211K across three open tax years

Illustrative of outcomes for businesses like yours. Recoveries vary by activity, payroll, and tax position; nothing here is a guaranteed amount.

Questions software & technology businesses ask

In most cases, yes. Wages for engineers experimenting to resolve technical uncertainty — new features, architectures, integrations, performance work — are the most common qualifying expense for software companies.

Find out in 5 minutes.

Free qualifier · no cost unless we recover · zero impact on your taxes. Bridge the gap.

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