The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has extended the transition period for refining Section 41 research credit refund claims, addressing the additional information requirements introduced in October 2021.
The extension was highlighted in a recent update to the previously released guidelines on the required information for submitting a valid research credit refund claim on 25 November 2024.
As per the update, the IRS gives taxpayers 45 days to perfect a research credit claim for refund prior to IRS’s final determination on the claim, through 10 January 2026.
In October 2021, the IRS set forth the information that taxpayers will be required to include for a research credit claim and made modifications in June 2024 to waive some requirements.
For claims postmarked after 18 June 2024, the same requirements announced in June 2024 apply, and taxpayers are required to:
- Identify all the business components to which the Section 41 research credit claim relates for that year;
- Identify all research activities performed for each business component and;
- Provide the total qualified employee wage expenses, total qualified supply expenses, and total qualified contract research expenses for the claim year. This may be done using Form 6765, Credit for Increasing Research Activities.
