R&D Advisory & CPA Solutions
A boutique advisory firm helping innovative businesses and CPA firms identify, calculate, document, and defend federal and state R&D tax credits — with institutional-grade expertise.
Novaric Advisory Group provides institutional-grade R&D tax credit expertise to companies and CPA firms that lack in-house R&D tax specialization — from eligibility through audit defense.
IRC §41 four-part test analysis and complete documentation for federal R&D credit claims.
Learn more →Multi-state credit identification across 38+ states with active R&D programs.
Learn more →Recover missed credits from prior tax years through amended returns. 3-year window available.
Learn more →§41(h) payroll tax offset credits for pre-revenue and early-stage companies.
Learn more →White-label, co-branded, and referral structures protecting the CPA client relationship.
Learn more →Complete technical narratives and IRS defense files built to withstand examination.
Learn more →Required since 2022 — we analyze your R&E expenditure capitalization impact and coordinate with your §41 credit to maximize net benefit.
Learn more →Every engagement includes permanent IRS audit defense support — no expiration, no extra fees. We stand behind our work indefinitely.
Learn more →Beyond R&D — federal and state income tax credits (jobs, hiring, investment, zone programs) captured in one coordinated engagement.
Learn more →Novaric never replaces your client relationship. We plug in as your specialized R&D resource — handling the complexity while you retain full control and get paid for the referral.
See CPA PricingRefer a client. We do the work. You get paid.
We deliver under your brand. Wholesale pricing.
Joint brand on deliverables. Collaborative team.
Volume discounts for multi-client firms.
From your first dollar of qualifying research to a bulletproof audit defense file — Novaric handles the entire R&D credit lifecycle so you don't have to figure it out alone.
The federal R&D tax credit under IRC §41 is one of the most valuable — and most overlooked — tax benefits available to innovative businesses. If your company develops, improves, or experiments with products, processes, software, or formulas, you likely qualify. Most companies that qualify have no idea.
Most companies claim the federal R&D credit and stop there — leaving significant state-level credits unclaimed. Over 38 states have their own R&D credit programs, many of which stack directly on top of the federal credit, increasing total credit value by 20–40%.
Already filed your taxes? Good news — the IRS allows you to amend prior-year returns and claim R&D credits you missed. The window covers the past 3 open tax years, meaning there may be a significant pile of unclaimed money sitting in returns you already filed. This is the most urgent conversation we have with new clients.
Urgent: The window for 2021 amended returns closes in 2025. If your business had qualifying R&D activity in 2021, time is running out to recover those credits.
Here's the one that surprises every startup founder: you don't need to be profitable to use R&D credits. Under IRC §41(h), qualifying small businesses can apply R&D credits directly against their payroll tax liability — meaning real cash savings from day one, before you ever owe income tax. Best part: the credit is claimed right through your existing payroll provider, so there's no new system to adopt and no disruption to how you run payroll.
Zero friction: You keep using the payroll system you already have. We handle the forms, the math, and the quarterly coordination with your provider — the credit simply shows up as reduced payroll tax owed.
For CPA firms that want to offer R&D credit services without building an in-house practice. We function as your R&D department — invisible to your client if you prefer, or co-branded if you want the credit. Either way, you get paid and your client gets results.
Since the 2022 tax year, businesses are required to capitalize and amortize research and experimental (R&E) expenditures under IRC §174 rather than deducting them immediately. This change significantly impacts cash flow and tax liability for any company with R&D activity — and most businesses haven't fully analyzed the hit. Novaric quantifies the impact, keeps you compliant, and coordinates §174 with your §41 R&D credit to maximize your net tax position.
Why this matters: §174 and §41 are directly linked. Getting your capitalization wrong means your R&D credit calculation is wrong too. We analyze both together so nothing falls through the cracks.
When Novaric prepares your R&D study, we stand behind it permanently — not just until the ink dries on the engagement letter. Every engagement includes lifetime IRS audit defense support at no additional charge. If the IRS ever questions a credit we prepared, we're in your corner for the long haul. No expiration dates. No surprise defense fees. No walking away.
The Novaric standard: We only take positions we're prepared to defend. Lifetime audit defense isn't a marketing line — it's the natural consequence of doing the work right the first time.
R&D is the headline, but it's rarely the only credit a company is leaving unclaimed. Most innovative businesses also qualify for federal and state income tax credits that their accountant never had bandwidth to chase. As a full innovation-incentives firm — not just an R&D shop — Novaric screens your entire credit picture and captures everything you're entitled to in a single, coordinated engagement.
Why bundle: The large incumbents sell R&D in isolation. We look at the whole incentive picture in one pass — which usually means more total credit captured and less work coordinating multiple vendors.
Book a free 15-minute discovery call. We'll tell you exactly what you qualify for, roughly how much it's worth, and whether it makes sense to move forward. No commitment, no sales pitch.
Book Free Discovery CallWe offer two distinct pricing tracks — one for direct clients and one for CPA partners. Choose your track below. Every engagement includes audit-ready documentation, filing support, and our compliance guarantee.
For businesses engaging Novaric Advisory Group directly — startups, SaaS companies, manufacturers, and any innovative business seeking R&D credit advisory without going through their CPA.
50% at signing · 50% prior to final delivery
Based on QRE volume and states · Multi-year discounts available
% of generated credit value · No credit, no fee
Add retroactive amended return coverage to any engagement. We analyze your last 3 open tax years and recover every dollar you left on the table. Priced at hybrid or contingency depending on scope.
Add Retroactive CoverageMost firms only think about credits once a year, at filing time — and miss opportunities that needed to be captured in the moment. A Novaric retainer puts a specialized innovation-incentives team on call all year for a predictable fixed fee. We monitor your activity continuously, flag credits as they arise, and keep your documentation audit-ready in real time. Ideal for funded startups and growing companies that want the upside of an in-house incentives department without the headcount.
Fixed quarterly fee. Continuous credit monitoring, quarterly check-ins, and real-time documentation as projects happen.
Year-round access to your incentives team, full annual study included, plus §174 coordination and multi-credit screening built in.
For multi-entity or fast-scaling companies. Dedicated lead, priority turnaround, and proactive incentive planning around your roadmap.
Retainer pricing is scoped to your size and activity. Most clients start with a single study, then move to a retainer once they see the value of year-round coverage.
Novaric Advisory Group is a boutique tax advisory firm that specializes in R&D tax incentives. We help innovative businesses and CPA firms claim federal and state tax credits that most companies don't even know exist — and recover the ones they already missed.
*No, we're not a storefront tax prep office. No, we don't do your personal returns. No, we can't help you with your cousin's restaurant. Yes, we're really this focused. It works.
"We turned 'what does your company actually do all day?' into a $47,000 check. You're welcome."
Here's the dirty secret of the R&D tax credit industry: most businesses that qualify have no idea they qualify. The big firms that do this work either ignore small clients or charge so much that the math barely works out. The local CPA firms that serve innovative businesses don't have the bandwidth to specialize.
So billions of dollars in R&D credits go unclaimed every year. Not because the businesses don't qualify — because nobody told them they did, or helped them claim it properly.
Novaric exists to fix that. We built a firm that's lean enough to serve smaller deals, expert enough to do it right, and modern enough that working with us doesn't feel like filing a form in 1987.
"The IRS literally created this credit to reward innovation. We just make sure you actually get it."
We only take positions we can defend in an IRS examination. No stretch claims. No aggressive positions that put your business at risk three years from now.
Translation: we sleep at night. So do you.
We will never, under any circumstances, try to replace your CPA, contact your client without permission, or insert ourselves into relationships that aren't ours.
We're the specialist you bring in, not the one who stays forever.
Every study we deliver is built assuming the IRS will ask about it. If your documentation can't survive an examination, it shouldn't leave our office.
We document things the IRS didn't even ask for. They love us. Mostly.
You know the fee before you sign. You know what you're getting. We don't scope-creep, hidden-fee, or confuse you with variable billing you didn't agree to.
Unlike your cable company. We hate them too.
Most studies completed in 4–8 weeks. Preliminary estimates in 48 hours. If you sent us an email, you heard back today. We treat urgency like it matters because it does.
We've seen firms take 6 months. We don't understand it either.
We didn't build a 200-person firm with a golf sponsorship and a massive overhead structure that gets passed to clients. We built something small, fast, and expert.
Our overhead is a laptop and strong opinions about documentation.
You do four things. We do the other forty-seven. Here's the whole deal:
You tell us what your company does. We tell you if it qualifies. Takes 15 minutes. Costs nothing. No weird follow-up sales calls if you say no.
It's basically just a conversation. We bring the expertise.
Payroll records, contractor invoices, a few project descriptions. You've already got this stuff. We handle the analysis, the math, and the documentation.
No, you don't need to build a spreadsheet. That's our job.
We interview your technical team for about an hour — total. We ask about what they built, what problems they solved, what failed. Engineers actually enjoy this part.
Turns out people like talking about what they're building. Who knew.
We deliver a complete, audit-ready R&D study report. Your CPA files it. You get a tax credit. The IRS legally owes you money. That's the whole thing.
We made this sound simple because it actually is. For you, anyway.
We built Novaric lean on purpose. Every person on this team has one job: make sure your R&D credit is accurate, defensible, and maximized. No account managers who don't know the work. No junior analysts guessing at QREs.
Founded by a tax professional who got tired of watching innovative companies leave hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table because the right firm either didn't exist, was too big to care, or was too expensive to make sense. Novaric is the answer to all three problems.
We specialize exclusively in innovation tax incentives. Not general tax prep. Not bookkeeping. Not your uncle's Schedule C. Just R&D credits — done right, done fast, and built to last through an audit.
"We could have built a bigger firm. We built a better one instead." — Still proud of this decision.
15 minutes. Free. We'll tell you exactly what you qualify for and what it's worth. Worst case you learn something. Best case you get a check.
Let's Talk →Fill out the form and we'll reach out within one business day to schedule your free discovery call. No spam. No long sales cycle. Just a quick call to see if we can help.
A real person reviews your submission and schedules a 15-minute discovery call at a time that works for you.
We learn about your business and activities. You learn if you qualify and roughly what the credit is worth. Zero commitment on either side.
If you qualify, we send a written preliminary estimate within 48 hours. No obligation to proceed. Most clients find the number surprising.
If you decide to move forward, we sign an engagement letter and kick off the study. Study complete in 4–8 weeks. Credit delivered.