FY2024 US R&D Tax Credit - Introduction & SME Interviews
Purpose: GitLab Tax is collaborating with Baker Tilly on the FYE 1/31/24 Research and Development ("R&D") Credit study. The R&D Tax Credit provides a dollar-for-dollar reduction in GitLab's annual income tax liability and directly reduces the amount of taxes the company has to pay, thereby increasing our after-tax profits.
Ask/Action GitLab Tax will schedule a brief, 50 minute Subject Matter Expert (SME) interview with the Baker Tilly R&D team late May through mid-June based on calendar availability. During the interview, we will discuss the qualified R&D activities performed, percentages of time spent by employees performing qualified R&D activities, development efforts, etc.
Result: Your participation in the SME interview will not only help us maximize our tax benefits but also contribute directly to GitLab's bottom line. The R&D Tax Credit can result in significant financial advantages for GitLab, and your input will ensure that we capture all eligible activities.
FOR REFERENCE
Discussion will include, but is not limited to the following items:
- What is the level of hands-on development activities versus direct support / supervision development activities conducted by the developers within your department?
- Identification and allocation of employees’ time spent performing qualified research and development activities, which will be explained during the discussion.
- Larger development efforts, including explanation of project objectives and technical risks / uncertainties.
Qualified R&D activities are defined as:
- Any effort undertaken for the development of a new product or process, or the enhancement of an existing product or process given the following limitations: the research must rely upon one of the sciences, physical, biological, medical, engineering, chemistry, computer, architecture, etc.; intended to eliminate technical uncertainty regarding the best fit, form, function, method or design of the intended final product/process; and substantially all of the activities constitute elements of a process of experimentation, which may involve: developing one or more hypotheses; performing experiments to test and analyze the hypotheses; and refining or discarding the hypotheses