Situation

Lee Spring has an extensive line of springs, wire forms, stampings and more than 25,000 inventoried products, available in a range of materials. In addition to these stocked items, their engineering and manufacturing experience allows for custom builds, whether for prototypes or long-run production.

Advancing and growing this product catalog requires a commitment to product development and R&D. Through discussions with ITAC , the team at Lee Spring knew that everyday activities like testing, tooling, and maintaining their industry expertise all qualified for the R&D Tax Credit. Tax systems are incredibly complex and the specific knowledge needed is different than most in-house accounting teams have available. ITAC helped the company find cost-effective R&D credit expertise back in 2014, and Lee Spring has filed for this credit every single year since.

Solution

Steve Kempf, Lee Spring’s CEO, admits that there was quite a bit of work during the first year. The R&D Tax Credit experts helped Lee Spring develop the spreadsheets to document eligible activities and costs, interviewed key R&D players, and learned about the details of the company. In addition to accountants and tax analysts, the team also includes engineering and manufacturing experts, thereby truly deep-diving to find every qualifying expense. As Steve says, “They pull out from you what really qualifies, and it’s more than you think.”

Once the templates were determined and Lee Spring’s internal team trained, they were able to easily maintain the necessary documents and update them with new projects. “Year to year is really straightforward. They gave us the tools, we learned how to keep records for the credit, and it’s a simple update.”

Results

Lee Spring has received this important credit each year for nearly a decade. “The return is significantly more than I thought”, says Steve. He continues, “This credit is great because it incentivizes businesses to test and develop new products.” The company uses this credit as their annual R&D budget, and they work against the budget to develop and perfect their products.

In addition to the financial benefits, Steve points to the ease of qualifying year over year. ITAC’s Tax experts make the process painless and are there every step of the way. Once the documentation is complete, the tax team writes the details for the backing of the credit, adds it to the tax returns, and makes the filing. As Steve points out: “I don’t think about this all year long. They make it easy for us, but I know that the back end is not that simple.” Steve also looks to these tax experts as backup in case they are ever audited. “We rely on them, and they guarantee that if we get audited, they will step in to support.”

Last year, ITAC helped NYC manufacturers realize an average credit of $188K for their research and development efforts. Steve shares, “Keeping this going every year is not a question.”