Powerful Tax Incentives for Architecture & Engineering Firms

Your firm could be losing thousands of dollars by not taking advantage of the Research & Development (R&D) Tax Credit!

R&D Tax Credits: Does your A/E Firm Qualify? is a timely, interactive webinar presentation that demystifies Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credits and—specifically—their value to architecture, engineering, and environmental consulting firms.

You'll learn how R&D activities are qualified under the code, how they're quantified, and about the implications of recent case law and legislative activity that affect the credit. By the end of this webinar you'll be armed with practical tips and inside information for improving your firm's bottom line through saving and/or recovering tax dollars.

R&D Tax Credits: Does your A/E Firm Qualify? features recognized experts Sonny Grover, Dean Zerbe and Justin DiLauro of Alliantgroup, a national tax advisory firm that has helped A/E firms across the country successfully claim Federal and State R&D credits.

Who would benefit from this information?
CFOs, Tax Directors, Tax Managers and other in-house tax professionals; CEOs who are answerable for the company’s bottom-line performance; small and mid-size business owners.

Powerful Tax Incentives Now Available for Architecture & Engineering Firms

If your firm has invested time, money, and resources toward the advancement and improvement of products and processes you could be losing thousands of dollars by not taking advantage of the Research & Development (R&D) Tax Credit.

Now you can arm yourself with cash-crucial actions you can take when tax time rolls around. Learn how R&D activities are qualified under the code, how they're quantified, and recent case law and legislative activity that affect the credit. Dean Zerbe, National Managing Director for Alliantgroup, and Sonny Grover, the National Director for Alliantgroup’s Business Development team, have over 30 years experience in tax consulting and studying tax-related legislative activity. Alliantgroup is a national tax advisory firm that helps A/E firms across the country claim Federal and State R&D credits—learn how you can get the credits that your firm deserves.

In a difficult economy, businesses and the CPAs who advise them need to be sure they're taking full advantage of every tax-saving opportunity available. Far too many businesses that would qualify are nevertheless either failing to take advantage of the R&D Tax Credit or are under-utilizing it because they don’t fully understand it. In addition, with the current strong push to make the credit permanent, the legislative landscape may be changing.

R&D Tax Credits: Does your A/E Firm Qualify? teaches you how to improve your firm's bottom line by saving and/or recovering tax dollars. This 90-minute webinar covers:

• The Fallacy: R&D credits are only for technology and pharmaceutical companies
• Qualifying research activities and the computation of R&D credits
• A/E activities that typically qualify and don't qualify for the R&D credit
• Process for claiming R&D credits
• Specific, proven examples
• Assessment opportunities

What is the R&D Tax Credit, and why is it important?

R&D Tax Credits can be an immediate source of cash, and may represent a significant reduction to current and future years' federal and state tax liabilities.

Many businesses owners in nearly every industry are unaware that federal and state research and development (R&D) tax credit programs exist that may reward their day-to-day efforts aimed at producing an improved product. The Research and Development Tax Credit is a government-sponsored benefit that provides cash incentives for companies conducting R&D in the U.S. These economic incentives were implemented to stimulate research and development in industries of all sizes, to encourage companies to work together, and to transform the economic landscape.

The Research & Development(R&D) tax credit is for businesses of all sizes, not just major corporations with research labs, and many companies are surprised that they qualify. If you think you must have research labs with white-coated scientists to qualify, think again. Any company that designs, develops, or improves products, processes, techniques, formulas, inventions, or software may be eligible. In fact, if a company has simply invested time, money, and resources toward the advancement and improvement of its products and processes, it may qualify.

More than $5 billion in federal R&D tax credit benefits are given out annually.

Even better, under recently issued government regulations, more industries now qualify for the R&D tax credit than ever before. Plus, the R&D tax credit regulations allow eligible taxpayers to “look back” to all open tax years (typically three years plus the current year) for potential R&D credits that were never claimed.

Who would benefit from this information?
CFOs, Tax Directors, Tax Managers and other in-house tax professionals; CEOs who are answerable for the company’s bottom-line performance; small and mid-size business owners.

Learn more about AlliantGroup

Dean Zerbe
National Managing Director
Washington, D.C. Office

Dean Zerbe is National Managing Director for alliantgroup and is based out of alliantgroup’s Washington D.C. office. In this role, Dean is responsible for, among other things, monitoring tax related legislative activity in Washington to help keep our clients and staff informed and help direct alliantgroup’s service offerings to ensure we are meeting client needs.

Prior to joining alliantgroup in February, 2008, Dean was Senior Counsel and Tax Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, where he worked closely with the Chairman (and currently Ranking Member) of the Finance Committee, Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) on tax legislation. During his time on the Finance Committee, Dean was intimately involved with almost every major piece of tax legislation that was signed into law–including the 2001 and 2003 tax reconciliation bills (representing two of the largest tax cuts in the nation’s history); the JOBS bill in 2004 (corporate tax reform); and, the Pension Protection Act.

Education:
J.D. (high honors), George Mason University
L.L.M., New York University School of Law

Sonny Grover, CPA
Senior Managing Director

Sonny is a Senior Managing Director based out of alliantgroup’s Orange County office and is the National Director for alliantgroup’s Business Development team. Sonny is a Certified Public Accountant with over 20 years of experience providing tax, mergers & acquisitions, structuring and operational consulting to corporations, partnerships, and individual business owners throughout the world.

Previously Sonny was a Tax Partner at Deloitte & Touche, LLP, where he managed a national consulting practice and a team of 30 professionals in 12 cities. Prior to Deloitte, Sonny was with Arthur Andersen.

Sonny is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with his BBA & MPA (in tax).

Education:
B.B.A., University of Texas at Austin
Masters in Tax, University of Texas at Austin

Justin DiLauro
Associate Director & Team Director
Houston Office

Justin DiLauro is an Associate Director and Team Director in the Houston national office and is an active member of several Industry Specialization Programs within the firm’s R&D implementation department. During his tenure at alliantgroup, Justin has performed R&D Tax Credit studies for numerous companies and has developed a team to serve engineering companies.

He has diverse experience with development, testing, and implementation of manufacturing process improvements. Additionally, Justin is well-versed in an array of technical topics and their application to research and development incentives, including computer-aided design, three-dimensional solid modeling, computer numerical control programming, and electrical discharge machining. Justin’s engineering coursework at Michigan included a concentration in manufacturing strategy and additional engineering coursework in mechanical, material science, and electrical engineering.

Education:
B.S.E., Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
J.D., University of Houston Law Center