The federal research credit has no registration, no notification and no pre-approval. Its deadlines are the deadlines of the income tax return, plus two elections that can only be made on an original return, and the limitation period for adding a credit to a year already filed. This page sets them out and ends with a calendar for a company with a December year end.
Registration and notification
None. The claim is made on Form 6765, filed with the income tax return. A company that has never claimed can claim for the current year, and can look back at earlier open years, without telling the IRS in advance. The absence of a gate is one of the ways the US scheme differs from Australia, which requires annual registration, and the UK and Ireland, which require advance notification in some cases; the seven-country comparison sets those side by side.
Claim deadline
The claim is due with the income tax return for the year. Two elections must be made on a timely filed original return, including extensions, and cannot be added later by amendment.
| Item | When | Can it be made on an amended return? |
|---|---|---|
| The credit itself (Form 6765) | With the original return, or by amended return within the refund limitation period | Yes, subject to the refund claim information requirements below |
| Payroll tax election (qualified small business) | On a timely filed original return, including extensions | No |
| Reduced credit election under section 280C(c) | On a timely filed original return, including extensions | No |
| Choice between regular and alternative simplified credit | On the return for the year | The alternative simplified credit may be elected on an amended return for a tax year, provided no research credit was previously claimed for that year on an original or amended return (Treasury Regulation 1.41-9(b)(2)) |
For most corporations with a calendar year the original return is due on 15 April, with an extension to 15 October. Partnerships and S corporations file a month earlier, on 15 March, with an extension to 15 September.
Amendments and late claims
A credit missed on an original return can be claimed by amended return, and a credit claimed can be corrected, within the limitation period for refunds: three years from the date the return was filed or two years from the date the tax was paid, whichever is later. For a calendar 2023 return filed in April 2024 that means an amended claim is generally possible until April 2027.
From January 2022 the IRS required refund claims to identify the business components, the research activities, the individuals who performed them, the information each sought to discover and the QRE totals. The IRS later relaxed the requirement to name individuals and the information sought, while keeping the business component and activity detail. A claim that omits the required detail can be rejected without examination, which is why the documentation page recommends keeping the workpapers in Section G form from the start.
Two further points. An amended return can add the credit but cannot add the payroll tax election or the reduced credit election. And a credit added for an earlier year that was not needed in that year carries back one year and forward twenty, which can change the tax of other years and require those returns to be amended too.
Calendar for a typical year end
For a hypothetical C corporation, Marlowe Instruments, with a 31 December year end.
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| January to December | Engineers log time to business components; finance codes supplies and contracts; design records are kept as the work happens |
| January, year end plus one | Close the project list: which business components passed the four-part test, which did not |
| February | Compute QREs from payroll, ledger and time records; prepare Section G workpapers; decide the method and whether to elect the reduced credit |
| By 15 April, or 15 October on extension | File Form 1120 with Form 6765 and Form 3800; any payroll tax election is on this return |
| First quarter after filing | If the payroll tax election was made, start applying the credit on Form 941 with Form 8974 |
| Until three years after filing | The return can be examined; an amended claim can be filed; keep the records |
| Up to twenty years | Any unused credit carries forward and can be examined in the year it is used |
Common questions
We filed on extension. Does the payroll tax election still count as timely? Yes. A return filed by the extended due date is a timely filed original return for both elections.
We discovered qualifying projects for the last three years. Which years can we claim? Any year still within the refund limitation period, by amended return with the required business component information. The reduced credit election and the payroll tax election cannot be added for those years, so the amended credit reduces the research expense deduction for each year amended.
Does an examination of one year stop the clock on others? No. Each year has its own limitation period, although an adjustment to a credit that was carried forward changes the credit available in later years and may require those returns to be amended.
Our fiscal year ends in June. How do the dates change? The original return is due on the 15th day of the fourth month after year end, 15 October for a June year end, with the same six-month extension, and the payroll tax offset starts in the first calendar quarter after the return is filed.
Related pages
- How to claim: the five steps
- The payroll tax election and its timing
- What happens when the IRS examines a claim
- Guide: an annual R&D claim calendar
- Compare deadlines across the seven countries
Official sources
- Instructions for Form 6765, Credit for Increasing Research ActivitiesInternal Revenue Service
- Instructions for Form 8974Internal Revenue Service
- 26 U.S. Code section 6511, Limitations on credit or refundLegal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
- Research credit claims: information requiredInternal Revenue Service
Educational content only, not tax advice. See the disclaimer.