How has the R&D Tax Credit Changed Between 2015-2022?

Research and Development Tax Credit Changes by Year 2015 – 2022

R&D Tax Credits 2015: The Protection Against Tax Hikes (PATH) Act was passed. This made the R&D credit permanent, and also introduced provisions for start-up companies under $50mm in gross sales and within their first 5 years of business to use R&D credits against payroll tax liability. It also increased the ability to use credits against the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)

R&D Tax Credits 2016: The PATH Act went into effect after the 2015 legislative session.

R&D Tax Credits 2017: No significant changes to R&D credit

R&D Tax Credits 2018: No significant changes to R&D credit

R&D Tax Credits 2019: No significant changes to R&D credit

R&D Tax Credits 2020: COVID restrictions impacted many small and medium U.S. businesses. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Employee Retention Credits (ERC) would be placed into effect to try to ease the financial burden.

R&D Tax Credits 2021: R&D credits were negatively impacted due to the COVID measures in place for the 2020 tax year, which reduced the amount of qualifying R&D expenditures available for the R&D credit (mainly in the form of wages that were used to calculate PPP and ERC benefits)

R&D Tax Credits 2022: Congress introduces a bill to double the amount of tax credit that results from the traditional R&D credit calculation. The intention is to bolster U.S. innovation and focus on pushing research and development forward.