If your business takes advantage of the Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit you’ll want to pay close attention to the latest announcement from the IRS. The agency is making important adjustments to its reporting requirements—specifically regarding Form 6765—and, critically, is giving taxpayers more time to both provide feedback and comply with certain rules. The IRS recently published draft instructions for Form 6765, Credit for Increasing Research Activities, and received requests from external stakeholders for more time to provide comments. In the interest of fair and effective tax administration, the agency has agreed and the comment period for the draft Form 6765 Instructions has been extended through March 31, 2026. This means that the details required in Section G of the R&D Form are not mandatory for tax year 2025 (calendar year taxpayers) and is optional for one more year, until Section G is mandated which will be for the calendar/tax year 2026 and beyond based on this latest IRS announcement.
Note that other sections are still required such as identifying your business components and listing how many business components you incurred during the tax year, reporting total amount of officer wages claimed for the R&D credit and other data to be reported on Form 6765 (similar to the requirements for calendar year taxpayers on 2024 tax returns).