Many executives don’t realize their zero trust security implementations qualify for substantial federal R&D tax credits. While you’re focused on protecting your business from cyber threats, you may be overlooking significant tax savings.
Why Zero Trust Projects Qualify for R&D Credits
Zero trust isn’t just buying and installing security software. It requires substantial innovation and problem-solving that the IRS recognizes as qualifying research and development:
- Custom Solutions Development: Your team isn’t implementing an off-the-shelf solution, they’re building custom integrations, developing new authentication workflows, and creating unique security policies tailored to your business.
- Overcoming Technical Challenges: Every zero trust implementation faces uncertainties: How do you secure legacy systems? How do you maintain performance while adding security layers? How do you integrate dozens of different tools? Solving these challenges qualifies as R&D.
- Systematic Testing and Refinement: Your security team runs pilots, tests different approaches, and continuously refines the system. This experimental process is exactly what R&D credits are designed to reward.
What Activities Generate Credits
Strategy and Design
- Architecting your unique zero trust framework
- Designing custom security policies
- Planning integration approaches for your specific technology stack
Development and Integration
- Building connections between security tools
- Developing automated response systems
- Integrating with existing business applications
Testing and Optimization
- Running security pilots and proof-of-concepts
- Performance testing and optimization
- User experience testing and refinement
- Threat modeling and risk assessment development
Common Misconceptions
“We’re just implementing vendor solutions” Even vendor-based implementations require substantial custom development, integration work, and problem-solving that qualifies for credits. If your team faced and resolved technical challenges, the credit may work for you.
“Our IT team handles this internally” Internal development often generates the highest qualifying expenses: salaries cloud computing costs for your technical staff working on the project.
“We’ve never claimed R&D credits before” Many companies discover they’ve been conducting qualifying research for years without realizing it. Zero trust implementations are particularly rich sources of qualifying activities.
The Documentation Challenge
R&D credits require detailed documentation that most IT teams don’t naturally maintain:
- Specific technical challenges and how they were solved
- Time tracking for personnel working on qualifying activities
- Evidence of experimental approaches and iterations
- Detailed project records showing the development process
Next Steps
If your organization has invested in zero trust security, endpoint protection, cloud security, or other cybersecurity initiatives in the past four years, you may be eligible for significant R&D tax credits.
The opportunity is time-sensitive, R&D credits must be claimed within specific timeframes, and the documentation requirements mean it’s easier to capture credits for current projects than to reconstruct past activities.
Why Work with R&D Credit Specialists
Maximize Your Credits: We identify all qualifying activities, not just the obvious ones. Our expertise often uncovers 30-50% more qualifying expenses than companies identify on their own.
No Disruption to Your Team: We work alongside your technical teams to capture necessary information without interrupting critical security initiatives.
Minimize Risk: Proper documentation and claim preparation reduces audit risk and ensures full compliance with IRS requirements.
This is where Leyton’s specialized expertise makes the difference. We are R&D credit professionals and we know exactly what documentation the IRS requires and how to capture it without disrupting your technical teams.
