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Ever hear “Let’s try a different approach” from your team? That could be R&D. See which engineering and architecture work may qualify for the tax credit.
Engineering and Architecture
If your team designs buildings, infrastructure, or engineered systems, you may qualify for the federal R&D Tax Credit for tax year 2026. Domestic design and engineering costs can be fully deducted in the year incurred, and eligible businesses can claim a dollar-for-dollar credit. Engineer and architect wages, subconsultant fees, and materials and testing costs can all count toward it. Many states also offer their own R&D credit, so it’s worth evaluating both the state and federal credit.
How It Works?
Choose the types of work your firm delivers and we’ll estimate your potential R&D tax credit.
Our Case Study
Discover how United Dwelling, a California-based builder of affordable housing, claimed R&D tax credits for the factory-built, modular ADU designs it installs at scale.
David Hada
CFO, United Dwelling
“The payroll tax credit has been a nice offset to preserve cash. The collaboration with our teams was efficient, focused, and comprehensive. The relationship was great- response times, knowledge, and incisive questions/discovery were all very helpful.“
Why Leyton
Tax & Industry Technical Experts
Years of Experience
Countries
Industries Served
Innovation Tax Incentives Claims
Our Process
Our Simple Process: No Upfront Cost, Only Percentage of Credits Claimed.
Meet with a member of our team to receive an overview of the R&D Tax Credit and review your eligibility. If you’d like to move forward, we’ll send you a letter of engagement (LOE).
Our team will collect the financial documentation & data to estimate what incentives you are eligible for and establish an optimal claim timeline. If no credit is identified, there will be no cost to you.
Our technical consultants will determine the list of qualified R&D projects according the 4-part test while our tax consultants will work with you to ensure that the Qualified Research Expenditures (QREs) are accurate.
Leyton’s team of Tax and Technical experts will work together to complete the calculations and provide your deliverables, including a detailed technical report and supporting documentation.
After filing the proper documentation with the IRS, the tax credit will reduce your income tax liability in the current tax year and may result in a refund for previous year. Any remaining credit can be carried forward up to 20 years.
Review your R&D Study Report with our Tax and Technical experts for the next year to increase efficiencies for future claims.
Book Your Free Consultation
Prefer email? Tell us about your R&D activity for a free R&D tax credit estimate and qualification review.
contact-us@leyton.com
Trusted R&D Tax Credit Experts
Supporting clients through every step of their R&D journey.
Jerome Negro
Senior Financial Controller
@GoGo squeeZ
“During all the projects there was a lot of flexibility and agility where Leyton was able to adapt. The first year was a good experience and then the next years were even easier and now it’s just like rolling this forward with all new data and the process is very streamlined and goes very smoothly.”
Brandon Naids
CEO
@Talon Simulations
“Our team has worked with Leyton for several years to help with our R&D Tax Credit and they are always great to work with. They make the process straight forward and are very supportive with the complexities for the IRS. We appreciate their team and find their services very valuable.”
Heather Kelley
Co-Founder
@Keon Research
“I really liked how Leyton brought in a wide breadth of expertise, such as bringing in a scientist to understand and assess our projects. The process did not take as long as we thought it might, in terms of overall hours, and Leyton’s experience was very helpful in guiding us through the process.”
Mark Milligan
President
@F4 Tech
“Leyton has helped our company for several years with getting all of the documentation for receiving the R&D tax credit. We as well as our accountant are very impressed by the speed, accuracy and quality deliverables that Leyton provides.”
Dave Landry
Co-founder
@Datawheel
“I see the value in that. It was an interesting exercise to look back at our projects and uncover qualifying R&D. We filed amended returns, recouped the money, and put it back into the company!”
Dave Landry
CFO
@United Dwelling
“The payroll tax credit has been a nice offset to preserve cash. The collaboration with our teams was efficient, focused, and comprehensive. The relationship was great- response times, knowledge, and incisive questions/discovery were all very helpful.”
Jonathan Jasinski
COO
@Mircroplant Nurseries
“Our experience with Leyton was seamless and easy in a process that could have been complicated and burdensome. We would highly recommend working with Leyton. We had avoided taking advantage of the R&D Tax Credit in the past because we didn’t have a way of recording/reporting the information required. Leyton made that possible.”
Elizabeth Hopkins
President
@Sapidyne Instruments Inc & GmbH
“We had a great experience with Leyton. They communicated effectively and were able to get us tax documents quickly. The amount of tax credit we received was more than I had expected.”
Rusty Peterson
Founder
@Align Agro
“Everything was easy-peasy! Leyton teams went above and beyond. People got back to me quickly, even with a 3 hour difference. I’ve told a couple of people about this credit already and it doesn’t cost you anything to look at it. You literally have nothing to lose!”
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Our Innovation team is there to ensure your projects are seen from all perspectives and to answer all your questions and help you make the most out of your Innovation efforts
FAQs
Can’t find the answer you’re after? Please contact our team
Businesses can generally amend prior returns and claim missed R&D credits going back up to 3 years. Claiming the credit on an amended return requires adding the credit back to that year’s taxable income, which is a minor adjustment that always applies.
The bigger consideration is Section 174 compliance for 2023 and 2024. Those years require capitalizing and amortizing R&D costs, which can significantly reduce or even eliminate the benefit of amending. 2025 doesn’t require amortization, so amending that year should be beneficial as long as you’re paying income taxes. Whether it’s actually net-positive for your specific numbers is exactly the kind of calculation our consultants will run for you.
Two things matter. The first is the risk of loss: cost-plus contracts typically don’t qualify because the client takes the financial risk, while fixed-fee contracts generally can because you bear the risk of overruns. The second is whether you keep the rights to your designs and methods and can reuse what you learn on future projects without paying a license fee. The IRS looks at what the contract actually says, and if it’s silent, your real business practices may be considered, with less certainty.
Often they do. In some circumstances, amounts paid on a project to third-party MEP or structural engineering firms can be included in the credit calculation. A portion of contract research costs, often around 65%, may be claimed, including third-party materials testing labs, wind-tunnel studies, and façade performance consultants. The same risk-and-rights test applies to the work you pay them for.
Yes, sub-contracted expenses can be included at 65% of their cost incurred by the company. (I.e. a contractor paid $100k would have $65k in eligible expenses to potentially be qualified towards the credit).