PSS TAX · SERVICE 10
AN R&D TAX CREDIT SPOTTER GUIDE
The Simple Test
Creating a new flavour or recipe isn’t automatically R&D. But food science and manufacturing development can qualify where a business is trying to overcome scientific or technological limitations involving formulation, processing, preservation, stability, texture, nutrition or production.
Food & Drink
Don’t rule it out just because…
It’s “only food”
All ingredients are already commercially available
The objective came from a consumer trend
The eventual product looks conventional
Numerous test batches failed
The project was primarily intended to reduce manufacturing cost
R&D vs probably not R&D
Potentially R&D
Reformulating a product to remove an ingredient that provided essential structural and stability characteristics, requiring systematic trials to reproduce those properties through a technically different formulation.
Probably not R&D by itself
Creating a new flavour variant by adjusting established ingredients using a well-understood formulation process.