Why We’re Different

Why Hike With an R&D Tax Credit Trail Guide?

The purpose of a trail guide is to ensure a safe, enjoyable journey on a path that would otherwise provide many challenges and uncertainties. For more than 20 years, Hull & Knarr has been the Research & Experimentation Tax Credit Trail Guide to countless innovative companies, accounting firms and tax providers, ranging in size from small start-ups all the way up to Fortune 500 industry heavyweights.

The R&D Tax Credit provides a financial benefit for qualifying companies, but can only be maximized with the right guidance and expertise. Our Trail Guides don’t just give you the map for navigating the R&D Tax Credit, we prepare and guide you through every step along the way, ensuring a safe and successful journey.

We are not an accounting firm. Our team is led by a group of industry veterans that are degreed engineers, CPAs, and tax professionals whose expertise awards our clients the peace of mind they seek out in an otherwise challenging terrain.

Did you know the IRS uses degreed engineers to audit the Research & Development Tax Credit?

Here’s how it all started: Hull & Knarr was founded on the principle that there are more effective ways to help companies innovate. Working for an accounting firm early in his career, Hull & Knarr founder David M. Hull was tasked with searching for other revenue streams for his employer when he came across the R&D Tax Credit. Growing up in the family electroplating business as a non-degreed engineer, David believed the R&D Tax Credit was an engineering function – not an accounting function – and that engineers would be better served to qualify R&D activities. David made his pitch, but the decision was made to use accountants rather than hire engineers to perform the studies. Because of his conviction, Hull & Knarr was born in 2001 and since then, our chief investigators have been experienced, degreed engineers.

Why use an engineering-based approach?

  • Mitigate Risk – Hull & Knarr has sustained over 98% of the dollars claimed over hundreds of federal and state audits.
  • Maximize Amounts – On average, Hull & Knarr engineers identify at least a 30% increase in qualified activities for clients that previously used an accounting approach.
  • Minimize Disruptions – Our engineers already communicate in your Subject Matter Experts’ language, so our process allows you to stay focused on your business.

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