Resources · Documentation template · Updated July 2026
R&D tax credit documentation template
The IRS does not hand you a documentation form. It expects you to show your work. This template is the record structure an examiner wants to see: business components, four-part test notes, time allocation, and expense mapping. Copy it into Notion or download the Markdown file.
The short answer
Document four things per project, while the work happens: what you built, why it meets the four-part test, who worked on it and how much of their time, and what it cost. Records created during the year beat anything reconstructed at filing time.
Free download · Markdown · No email required
One Markdown file with all five parts. Paste it into Notion, Google Docs, or your wiki and it keeps its structure.
What the IRS actually expects
The credit is claimed on Form 6765, but the form only holds totals. If the IRS asks questions, it wants the records behind the totals. Examiners look for a clear link from each claimed dollar to a business component, and from each business component to evidence that the four-part test was met.
Timing matters as much as content. Contemporaneous records, made while the work happened, are credible. Recollections gathered a year later are the weakest form of support. That is why this template is built to be updated quarterly, not filled in at filing time.
The bar is also rising. Form 6765 Section G asks for business-component detail behind the credit, and it becomes mandatory for most larger claimants in tax years beginning after 2025. Startups electing the payroll offset stay exempt, but the direction is clear. Our Form 6765 walkthrough covers what Section G asks for.
What is in the template
Part 1: Company summary
Legal name, EIN, tax year, first year with gross receipts, and whether you are claiming the payroll tax offset. Fill it in once per year.
Part 2: Business components
The products, processes, or pieces of software you developed or improved. One row per component. This list is the backbone of the study, and it maps to what Form 6765 Section G asks for.
Part 3: Four-part test notes, one per component
Prompts for each test: the goal, the hard science involved, what was uncertain at the start, and what alternatives you tried. Plus links to the pull requests, design docs, and experiment logs that prove it.
Part 4: Time allocation by person
Each person's qualified share of the year, with the basis for the estimate. Commits and tickets beat memory.
Part 5: Expense mapping
Wages, contractor costs at 65%, supplies, and cloud costs, mapped to business components. These totals flow into the QRE lines on Form 6765.
How to use it
- Copy the template into the tool your team already uses. Notion, Google Docs, and wikis all work. The download is plain Markdown.
- List your business components first. Most startups have 2 to 6 per year. A new product, a big feature, and a rebuilt pipeline can each be one.
- Fill in the four-part test notes per component. Link real artifacts: pull requests, design docs, experiment logs. Links are evidence. Adjectives are not.
- Update time allocation and expenses quarterly. Fifteen minutes a quarter saves days at filing time.
- Hand the finished document to your CPA with the totals from the QRE worksheet.
Or skip the manual work
Everything this template asks for already exists in your tools. Your commits and pull requests show what was built and when. Your issue tracker shows who worked on what. Your payroll shows what it cost. Claimship connects read-only to GitHub, Linear, Jira, and payroll, fills this structure in automatically, and turns it into an audit-ready study and Form 6765 package your CPA files. Not sure your work qualifies? Start with what software work qualifies as R&D, or estimate your credit first.