Compare · Last updated
How much does an R&D tax credit study cost?
Four pricing models dominate. Contingency firms take 20 to 30% of the credit, and some boutiques take up to 40%. Fixed-fee studies run from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands. Hourly work starts around $100 to $250 per hour. Flat-fee software costs a few thousand a year. Same Form 6765 at the end, very different bills.
Contingency math uses the corroborated 20 to 30% range. The fixed fee is an illustrative mid-range quote, since firms price by complexity. Your credit depends on your payroll. Estimate it here.
The four pricing models
Contingency: 20 to 30% of the credit
The most common model at specialty firms. You pay nothing up front and the firm keeps a share of what it finds. Published analyses put the standard range at 20 to 30% of the credit, and some boutique firms charge up to 40%. The pitch is no risk. The catch is that most software startups qualify easily, so the fee scales with a credit you were going to get anyway.
Fixed fee: a few thousand to tens of thousands
Some regional CPA firms and national providers quote a fixed price per study, driven by company size and how many projects need documenting. Small, single-product companies land at the low end. Multi-project or multi-entity claims climb fast. National and Big 4 firms sit at the premium end of the market.
Hourly or expense-based
Less common. Hourly billing for study work commonly starts at $100 to $250 per hour. A few firms charge 1 to 2.5% of your qualified research expenses instead, which can quietly consume 10 to 20% of the credit, since the credit itself is roughly 6 to 10% of those expenses.
Flat-fee software: low thousands per year
Software that automates the evidence gathering charges a flat annual fee regardless of credit size. Claimship costs $1,500 to $3,000 per year, builds the study from your GitHub, Linear, and Slack history, and hands your CPA the Form 6765 package. You keep 100% of the credit.
What the money buys
A study is the documentation behind the number on your return. A typical engagement at a traditional firm takes 4 to 8 weeks: an eligibility screen, then interviews with your engineers, time surveys, and expense work, then a report. The deliverable is a study report with project narratives and computation spreadsheets, plus support for Form 6765.
Two things to check before you sign. First, audit defense is usually not included. Firms commonly bill it separately, hourly or as a surcharge. Second, ask what evidence the narratives rest on. Interviews reconstruct what your team remembers. Your commits, pull requests, and tickets already recorded what actually happened, which is the approach Claimship automates.
Why costs are shifting in 2026
- Domestic R&D expensing is back. The 2025 tax law permanently restored immediate expensing of US R&D costs and let smaller companies amend 2022 to 2024 returns for refunds. That pushed a wave of amended-return work to firms, and amended claims need project-level detail.
- Form 6765 got bigger. The new Section G, mandatory for larger claimants starting tax year 2026, asks for business-component detail behind the credit. Startups electing the payroll offset are exempt, but the direction is clear: the IRS wants documentation, not estimates. Weak studies are getting more expensive to stand behind.
When paying a firm makes sense
Controlled groups, non-software R&D, complicated state credits, an IRS exam already underway, or amending prior-year returns. Those are real reasons to pay for expert hours. We wrote an honest comparison: Claimship vs a traditional R&D study firm. For everything else, see the best R&D tax credit software in 2026.
Common questions
How much does an R&D tax credit study cost?
It depends on the pricing model. Specialty firms usually charge 20 to 30% of the credit on contingency, and some boutiques charge up to 40%. Fixed-fee studies run from a few thousand dollars for a small company to tens of thousands for complex claims. Hourly work commonly starts at $100 to $250 per hour. Flat-fee software like Claimship costs $1,500 to $3,000 per year.
Is a percentage fee ever worth it?
Sometimes. If your situation is genuinely complex, or you might not qualify at all, paying only on success shifts the risk to the firm. But most funded software startups with US engineers do qualify, and then the percentage becomes the most expensive option. Always convert the percentage into dollars on your expected credit before signing.
Is audit defense included in the study fee?
Often not. At traditional firms, audit defense is usually a separate engagement billed hourly or as a surcharge on top of the study. Ask for audit terms in writing. Documentation quality matters more: a study that links every claimed dollar to primary evidence gives an exam less to argue with.
Do I need a study at all?
If you claim the credit, you need documentation that supports what you claimed, who did the work, and what it cost. The IRS also expanded Form 6765 with a detailed Section G that becomes mandatory for larger claimants in tax year 2026. Startups electing the payroll offset are exempt from Section G, but they still need support behind their numbers if questions come.
Sources: fee ranges and timelines from Kyle David Group, Swanson Reed, and the IRS Form 6765 instructions, checked July 2026.