Is Self-Serve the Right Way to Claim Your R&D Credit? Five Questions That Decide It

TL;DR

• Self-Serve is the lighter-lift way to claim the R&D credit: you bring the numbers, a platform does the calculation, and you finish with the forms your CPA needs.
• It fits teams who know their payroll, project, and expense data cold and are comfortable owning the accuracy of what they enter.
• If you would rather hand the work to a dedicated team, Full-Service and Enterprise carry more of the journey. A 15-minute review will point you to the right one.

First, what the credit is

The federal research credit, found in IRC Section 41, rewards businesses that spend on developing or improving products, processes, or software. Whether your work qualifies depends on the facts, and Treasury Regulation 1.41-4 sets out the rules for how a claim is substantiated. The credit is reported on IRS Form 6765, which your CPA files with your return.

At Strata, every service tier ends in the same place: a filing-ready study your CPA can file with the return. What differs is how much of the journey you keep and how much we carry. Our tagline for it is "Get the credit. Choose the lift." Self-Serve is the tier where you keep the most.

What Self-Serve is

Self-Serve is the essentials, streamlined. You provide the numbers, and our platform does the heavy lifting: data collection and calculation are automated, and you receive every form your CPA needs, ready to file. It also includes limited audit support for the study itself. The fee is 10% of the credit, as one simple payment before delivery.

Two things are deliberately not part of Self-Serve. There is no CPA review and no methodology memo, since both stay with Full-Service. And because you enter the numbers, your team owns their accuracy. That is the trade for speed and a lower fee, and it is the heart of the decision below.

Five questions to ask yourself

Answer these honestly. If you land on "yes" for most, Self-Serve is likely worth a serious look.

1. Do you know your numbers cold?

Self-Serve works best when someone on your team can confidently say who worked on which projects, what those people were paid, and which supplies or contract costs belong to development work. If that information lives in clean payroll reports and project records, you are in good shape. If answering takes a week of digging and guesswork, a more guided tier may serve you better.

2. Is your R&D picture relatively straightforward?

A single entity with a manageable set of projects is a natural fit. Multiple entities, a large annual R&D spend, or complicated contract arrangements call for more hands-on advising, and that is where the other tiers come in.

3. Are you comfortable owning the accuracy of your inputs?

The platform calculates; it does not know your business the way a dedicated specialist would. If a number is entered wrong, the output reflects it. Owners and CFOs who already review their own financials closely tend to be comfortable with this. Those who prefer to delegate the whole question often are not.

4. Do you value speed and simplicity over a deep, personalized build?

Self-Serve is the fastest, friendliest path for people who know what they want. Full-Service is a different experience: a dedicated client success rep, an R&D specialist CPA with Big Four experience, personalized data collection, strategic guidance to maximize every defensible dollar, and the complete 25+ page methodology memo. If you want that depth, Self-Serve is not the tier for you, and that is fine.

5. Does the cost structure suit you?

Self-Serve is priced at 10% of the credit with one payment before delivery. Full-Service is 25% of the credit, with a deposit to begin and the balance before delivery. A lower fee can make sense when you are doing more of the work yourself. A higher one can make sense when you want a team to do it. Neither is better in the abstract; the right answer depends on how you value your own time.

How to read your answers

Mostly yes: Self-Serve may be a strong match, and you can expect a lighter lift from your team than a fully guided engagement. Mostly no: you are probably describing Full-Service, which is our most popular tier for owners and CFOs who want every defensible dollar with barely a lift from their team. If you have $1M or more in annual R&D spend, or several entities, and would rather the engagement come to you, Enterprise delivers everything in Full-Service in person, on a gentler schedule spread over nine months.

Results always depend on the specific activities, documentation, and facts of your business. A credit can be sized only after a review, which is why the first step costs nothing.

Find your fit in 15 minutes

Not sure which tier you are? That is the most common place to start. Book a 15-minute review at stratataxgroup.com/contact. We will size your credit with a $0 initial assessment, answer your questions, and point you down the right path.

This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute tax or legal advice. Consult a qualified tax professional regarding your specific circumstances.