Consumer demands often drive the R&D efforts for companies in the food manufacturing and processing industries.  Alliant Group knows that more research and development activities are happening inside these firms than meets the eye.  Packaging and production processes undergo constant improvements that could qualify for significant tax savings.  Alliant Group shows companies in the food and packaging industries how many areas of daily activities and tasks may qualify for valuable tax incentives.  Prototype activities, process improvements and testing can take place in the plant or the shop floor.  All of these activities would be highlighted in a no-obligation consultation with Alliant Group.

Whenever the government wants to encourage certain activities, tax credits and incentives are attached to them.  This is one of the reasons improvements to products and processes will qualify for R&D tax incentives..  Alliant Group teaches clients to track activities in related areas of the company’s operations so that every possible qualifying task can be reported.  Efforts to improve the taste and nutritional qualities of a product involve experimentation and testing of new formulations and recipes.  Innovative process parameters and packaging methods are important parts of the process.  All of these activities can be tracked with the assistance of Alliant Group.  Once Alliant Group’s experienced team starts asking the right questions, many food manufacturing firms realize how much qualifying time and effort is expended every day.

Early discussions with Alliant Group will remind clients that many of the following activities might be eligible for R&D tax incentives:

• Development of recipe formulations for new flavors and food products
• Improvements to existing food product formulations that will extend product shelf life
• Development of new or improved agricultural or chemical ingredients for food products
• Production process improvements that reduce manpower, lead time and waste
• Production of prototype samples for analytical and microbiological qualities
• Additionally, package design improvements that enhance functionality or shelf life are overlooked by many Alliant Group clients.

Alliant Group has established an Industry Specialization program that is staffed with experts from the food and packaged goods industry.  Former activities often qualify for tax credits, but early discussions with businesses include questions that will cause tassist in the evaluation of existing work teams and tasks.  Alliant Group guides decision makers through the thought processes that will optimize the way tasks are tracked for consideration as research and development, while minimizing the time involved for the businesses we assist.

alliantgroup’s expert team of tax and industry specialists have extensive knowledge with the federal export tax incentive. The Interest Charge-Domestic International Sales Corporation (IC-DISC) is a government tax incentive for businesses whose products, and certain services, are ultimately used outside the United States.  “There are many activities and industries that are often unaware of the opportunity for significant tax savings,” according to David Ji, alliantgroup Managing Director.

The general lack of awareness regarding the IC-DISC incentive for U.S. businesses of all sizes is staggering. According to alliantgroup experts, the main reason is that when the IC-DISC was created in 1984, it was meant to act as a tax deferral vehicle. The strategy allowed businesses to defer taxes for a period of time by paying an interest charge. But during the past 25 years, there have been other, more powerful export incentives which provided taxpayers greater benefits than the IC-DISC could. Thus, there has always been limited uptake and implementation of the IC-DISC because other strategies made more sense . However, this is no longer the case, according to alliantgroup, and IC-DISC incentive is a lucrative opportunity for many businesses.

The arbitrage opportunity came into play in 2003 when the Bush tax cuts allowed IC-DISC dividends to be taxed at preferential 15% rates. “Now, the IC-DISC provision allows users to transfer a significant portion of foreign trade income that used to be taxed at 35% to a reduced 15% rate,” said alliantgroup’s Ji. “But people are still in the old mindset of IC-DISCs simply being tax deferral vehicles which is obviously no longer the case.”

In alliantgroup’s experience, these are some commonly overlooked industries:

• Architecture
• Software
• Engineering
• Distribution/Shipping

alliantgroup also notes that commonly overlooked export activities include:

• Shipping/distributing product directly outside the U.S.
• Architects who do design work in the U.S. for a project proposed for construction outside the U.S. (including Canada and Mexico)
• Development of software in the U.S. for applications that are downloaded and used overseas
• Selling product to a U.S. company who ultimately uses or ships the product outside the U.S.
• Manufacturing equipment or products in the U.S. that are sold to a U.S. company who sells the product outside of the U.S.
• Selling parts to the U.S. government that are ultimately used overseas

According to alliantgroup, there are nuances and complexities to the IC-DISC program that most accountants are not familiar with. Contact alliantgroup today to discuss your tax saving possibilities.

National tax services firm to add full-time professional staff to start in January 2012

December 19, 2011  –  alliantgroup, the leader in the tax credit and incentive space, is hosting two job fairs in December to recruit up to 50 full-time professionals. The job fairs will be held in their Houston office on Tuesday, December 20 and Thursday, December 29 from 5:00-8:00 p.m.

At a time when U.S. unemployment is at a record high and the economy is slowly creeping toward recovery, alliantgroup is a company that is looking to add permanent jobs. “As a company, our goal is to help businesses receive valuable tax incentives to help businesses remain innovative and to keep jobs in this country, which makes this opportunity for us to add a large number of new staff even more rewarding,” said alliantgroup CEO, Dhaval Jadav.

“We want cream of the crop candidates who thrive on hard work and who like to be challenged,” said Kelly Bledsoe, alliantgroup’s Director of Recruiting. Open positions include:

• professional engineers
• software developers
• architects
• business development directors
• project managers
• experienced attorneys
• biologists
• chemists
• NetSuite database administrators
• webmaster/online marketing specialist

alliantgroup’s job fairs will take place at their Houston office at 5400 Westheimer Court, in the Spectra Energy Building.  All positions require college degrees. alliantgroup offers a competitive salary and benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, life, 401(k), holidays, PTO, and training.

For more information, contact Kelly Bledsoe at 713.877.9600 or kelly.bledsoe@alliantgroup.com

alliantgroup, LP is the nation’s leading tax specialty services provider, working with CPA firms and their clients to ensure companies receive the full benefit of federal and state tax incentives and credits for activities such as R&D, exporting, hiring, and energy-efficient design — aimed at creating jobs and spurring innovation in America.