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Provenance · Research & development tax credit

Turn your R&D into a tax credit.

We find the qualifying R&D, build the evidence, and hand it to your CPA to file.

What’s at stake

The credits engineering-led startups are leaving on the table.

$500K

Annual payroll tax offset

Cap for qualified small businesses, raised from $250K starting tax year 2023. i

14–20%

Federal credit rate on QREs

Alternative Simplified Credit (14% above base) vs the regular method (20% above base). i

3 years

Look-back to amend

Claim credits on prior returns within the federal refund-statute window. i

Eligibility and credit amounts vary by company profile, methodology, and jurisdiction. Final determination with your tax advisor.

Where credit processes break

Most processes are assembled for filing, not built for audit.

Before · spreadsheet

Q3-claims.xlsx

  • GPU compute · model training

    AWS · Q3

    No project tag
  • Production hosting

    Vercel · monthly

    Not R&D
  • Mixed-role payroll · Marcus B.

    Eng + sales

    Unallocated
  • Prototype hardware

    Inv 4821

    No §41 narrative
  • Admin tooling · Notion, Linear

    SaaS bundle

    Not R&D
  • Third-party model optimization

    Apex Data Labs

    No linkage

Six items flagged. Three would survive an audit. No way to tell without re-reading every line.

After · Provenance

Classified · Q3

Qualified

4
  • GPU compute · model training

  • Prototype hardware

  • Third-party model optimization

  • Engineering payroll · 4 contributors

Needs review

2
  • Mixed-role payroll · Marcus B.

  • Shared environment costs

Excluded

2
  • Production hosting

  • Admin tooling · Notion, Linear

Reviewer-ready. Each item linked to §41 narrative and source evidence. CPA reviews exceptions, not the whole pile.

Built for defensibility

Designed for defensibility, not just calculation.

Structured documentation

Projects mapped to the IRS §41 four-part test with consistent, reviewer-ready narratives that stand up to scrutiny.

Financial traceability

Every dollar tied to payroll records, contractor agreements, or classified expense evidence. No floating figures.

Evidence coverage

Technical and financial evidence linked, classified, and organized for review. Gaps surfaced before filing, not during audit.

Sample report

What your CPA actually receives.

Total QRE

$80,500

Estimated credit

$8,050

Confidence score

75%

Evidence coverage

50%

R&D credit report · Q3 2025

Industry

Applied AI Infrastructure

Tax year

2025

Four-part test

100% complete

Evidence records

8 documents

Project coverage

  • Inference Pipeline Acceleration

    4-part test ✓
  • Context-Aware Retrieval Engine

    4-part test ✓
  • Autonomous Monitoring Agent

    4-part test ✓

QRE breakdown

Qualified wages

4 contributors · payroll-linked

$58,000

Contract research

Apex Data Labs · River Systems

$15,000

Cloud computing

GPU training runs · isolated

$6,500

Supplies

Prototype hardware

$1,000

Total QRE

$80,500

Qualified evidence

Qualified

4
  • GPU compute · model training
  • Prototype hardware
  • Third-party model optimization

Needs review

2
  • Shared environment costs
  • Mixed-role payroll

Excluded

2
  • Admin tooling
  • Production hosting

Aligned to IRS §41 · Reviewer-ready

Page 01 of 14

Sample · Illustrative figures.

What you receive

A package your CPA can review and file.

Provenance fits into your existing R&D credit workflow. We build the evidence package. Your advisor applies the expertise and makes the final call.

  • Quarterly and annual R&D documentation reports

  • QRE breakdown with documented assumptions and calculation logic

  • Evidence-backed project narratives aligned to IRS §41 four-part test

  • Clear linkage between projects, costs, and supporting evidence

  • Review-ready output for your CPA or tax advisor

  • Optional QSBS tracking layered on top

How it works

From sign-up to filing, in three steps.

01

Connect your tools

Link the systems your business already runs on. Data is securely referenced and processed automatically. No manual exports.

02

We identify the evidence

The AI surfaces potential R&D activities, ties them to payroll and expense data, and organizes the supporting evidence.

03

Download your report

A structured, evidence-backed report ready for your CPA or tax advisor to review and file.

Ready to claim what you’ve earned?

Join the early-access cohort. We’ll build the evidence package. Your CPA files the credit.

Join the waitlist

Designed to support IRS §41 requirements. Final eligibility should be reviewed with your tax advisor.

Controls & security

Built for financial controls and data security.

Your underlying data stays in your source systems. Provenance stores only metadata and references. Final eligibility and filing decisions remain with your advisor.

  • SOC 2 Type II certified, inherited from Gateway AI

  • Metadata and references only. No source documents stored.

  • Encrypted at rest and in transit

  • Role-based access controls

  • IRS §41-aligned classification framework

  • Works with your existing CPA or tax advisor