R&D Tax Credits
Water & Wastewater
Engineering treatment for new contaminants, new regulations, or new throughput is exactly what the credit was designed to reward.
$0
Initial assessment. No fee to find out.
4-8 wks
Typical study, start to finish.
9 yrs
Building defensible credit claims since 2017.
Why this work qualifies
No two sites have the same water. Every time your engineers design treatment for a new contaminant profile, adapt a process to meet a tightening discharge limit, or size a dosing system for conditions the textbook does not cover, they are resolving technical uncertainty through experimentation. That is the federal R&D credit's qualification standard, almost word for word.
Pilot testing is the clearest example. A pilot exists because nobody knows yet whether the process will perform at scale, and the credit was written to reward exactly that kind of systematic evaluation. The same logic extends to custom SCADA and controls work, membrane and media evaluations, and process redesigns driven by new regulations. Firms in this space tend to underclaim badly because the work reads as routine engineering from the inside. Documented properly, much of it is creditable.
Common qualifying activities
- ✓Engineering treatment processes for new or changing contaminants
- ✓Designing custom controls and SCADA logic
- ✓Evaluating membrane, filter, or biological treatment performance
- ✓Designing chemical dosing systems for site-specific needs
- ✓Pilot testing process changes before full-scale rollout
What typically does not qualify
Routine plant operations and maintenance, compliance reporting, and standard equipment installs to a settled design generally do not qualify. The study's job is to isolate the engineering from the operating.
Common questions
Water & Wastewater, answered.
Much of our work is for municipalities. Does that disqualify it?
Not automatically. The funded-research rules turn on contract terms: who bears the financial risk if the approach fails, and who keeps rights to the resulting know-how. Many design and pilot engagements leave meaningful risk and rights with the firm. Contract review is part of a serious assessment.
Do pilot programs and bench testing count?
They are among the strongest fact patterns in this vertical. Structured evaluation of alternatives against performance targets is the credit's definition of experimentation, and pilots generate exactly the documentation an examiner wants to see.
What costs beyond salaries can qualify?
Certain contractor costs and supplies consumed in testing, such as media, membranes, and chemicals used in pilots, can qualify alongside wages, depending on the facts of each project.
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