Confirm the years, entities, and available records.
The initial request should establish the legal entities, years, states, and types of development work under consideration. Ask who understands the technical work and who can explain payroll and accounting data. Identify any prior studies, credit calculations, amendments, or related entities before requesting detailed schedules.
Ask the client which systems contain project records and how long those records are retained. Useful information may live in engineering folders, ticketing systems, laboratory records, production trial logs, or email attachments. Start by locating the records your client already has. A detailed project description can follow once you know what needs review.
Request project facts and their supporting records.
For each candidate project, ask what the team was trying to develop or improve, which technical questions were unresolved, and how alternatives were evaluated. Identify the dates, people, work location, and relevant business component. Ask when development gave way to routine production or maintenance.
- Design revisions, drawings, or specifications.
- Test plans, results, prototypes, and trial records.
- Issue histories, technical decisions, and failed approaches.
- Project schedules and records identifying participants.
- Contracts and statements of work where relevant.
Request representative records first if the file volume is large, then follow up based on the actual activities. An interview can explain a record, but it should not manufacture details that the participant cannot reliably confirm.
Request payroll and expense details.
Obtain payroll information for the relevant periods, with employee identifiers that can be matched to the activity review. Request available time or project-allocation records, but do not tell the client to create retrospective timesheets. Where tracking is incomplete, review other evidence and its limitations.
For supplies and outside research, request transaction-level detail, invoices, and related agreements. Separate general development spending from amounts potentially includible under the research credit rules. Ask for explanations of account codes and unusual adjustments so totals can be reconciled without guessing.
Historical qualified expense schedules, gross receipts, prior Forms 6765, and ownership changes may be needed for method review. A prior credit total is not a substitute for the underlying historical inputs.
An example document request for your client.
“Please identify the entities and tax years to review, the development projects performed during those years, and the contacts who can explain the work. For each project, briefly describe the technical objective, alternatives evaluated, and records available. Please also identify the payroll and accounting systems, previous research credit calculations, and locations where development occurred.”
Follow that introduction with a short, tailored records list. Agree on a secure sharing process before exchanging payroll files, returns, or confidential designs. The website inquiry form is for an initial conversation and should not be used to transmit those records.
Track each request as received, incomplete, not available, or not applicable. Those distinctions are more informative than a single checked box and make follow-up questions easier to direct.
Organize the records and follow up on missing items.
Preserve original exports separately from working schedules and note the source and export date. Use consistent project and employee identifiers. Record explanations of changes rather than overwriting the only version of a client-supplied file.
Before calculation work is finalized, revisit missing items with the technical and accounting contacts. Missing records may affect which expenses can be supported. Do not automatically fill a gap with an estimated percentage. Our guide to missing time records explains that distinction.
Call Paribus to discuss which records we’ll need for your client’s study and expense review. A focused first request can help the client provide useful information with less repeated follow-up.