Georgia: 10 percent on incremental R&D, federal Form 6765 required first.

Rate	10% of incremental QRE
Note	Federal Form 6765 required first

The Georgia credit is 10 percent of the additional research expense over the base amount, where the base amount is computed using Georgia gross receipts. The credit is conditioned on the same business claiming and being allowed a federal Section 41 credit for the same taxable year. The federal claim is not just supporting evidence; it is the eligibility gate.

Statutory citation: O.C.G.A. Section 48-7-40.12 (Tax Credit for Qualified Research Expenses). Form: Form IT-RD, filed with the Georgia income tax return.

Industry eligibility list. The credit applies to a business engaged in manufacturing, warehousing and distribution, processing, telecommunications, tourism, broadcasting, or research and development industries. Most SaaS companies qualify under "research and development industries" because their core engineering activity is software development against federal Section 41 standards, but the industry-list approach is worth a CPA sanity-check at intake.

The qualified research expense definition references federal IRC §41 with the Georgia in-state performance modifier. Wages, contract research, and supplies count only to the extent they relate to research conducted in Georgia.

The Georgia research credit cannot exceed 50 percent of the business's Georgia net income tax liability after all other credits have been applied. Excess credit beyond that limitation carries forward.

The carryforward window depends on when the credit was generated:

• Pre-2025 credits. Carry forward 10 years.
• Credits generated in tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2025. Carry forward 5 years.

The shortened window for 2025-and-later credits changes the planning calculus. A Georgia SaaS company building large credit balances now should expect those balances to expire faster than under the old rule, which means utilizing credit as it is earned is more important.

The credit is non-refundable. The federal Section 41 prerequisite makes Georgia's credit, in practice, a documentation-piggyback on the federal binder. If you already produce a defensible federal Section 41 claim, the marginal effort to claim Georgia is small.

R&D Binder produces federal Section 41 documentation from your GitHub commit history. The binder supports your federal Form 6765 and, starting tax year 2026, the mandatory Form 6765 Section G appendix. Because Georgia conditions its credit on the federal claim, the federal binder is also the eligibility document for the state credit.

The Georgia state credit workpaper is a $995 add-on to the standard binder engagement. It produces:

• A Georgia-attributable QRE breakdown (employee, contractor, and supplies expenses tied to research conducted in Georgia, using the same business-component partition as the federal binder).
• Base amount computation using Georgia gross receipts.
• Form IT-RD input values for the 10 percent incremental computation.
• Industry eligibility note for your CPA confirming the company's research and development industry classification under O.C.G.A. Section 48-7-40.12.
• Carryforward tracking notes with the 5-year window for credits generated in 2025 and later.

We do not file Form IT-RD or sign the Georgia return. That stays with your CPA. R&D Binder produces the workpaper; your CPA files.

A worked example. An Atlanta SaaS company with 14 engineers, $3.2M in qualifying wages (federal QRE pool), and 9 engineers physically located in Georgia.

• Federal Section 41 credit. Computed on the full $3.2M federal QRE pool through Form 6765, claimed by the CPA. R&D Binder produces the binder, QRE workpaper, and Form 6765 Section G appendix. This federal claim is the precondition for any Georgia credit.
• Georgia credit. Computed on the Georgia-attributable portion of QREs. Roughly $2.06M ($3.2M times 9/14 engineer location ratio, with actual allocation refined by per-employee work-location records). The CPA computes the 10 percent incremental credit on Form IT-RD against the Georgia gross receipts base amount, with the 50 percent net income tax liability cap applied.
• Total engagement cost. SaaS Standard tier ($4,995, 6 to 25 FTE) plus Georgia state workpaper add-on ($995). Total $5,990.

For tax year 2025 credits, the 5-year carryforward window starts the clock immediately. A Georgia company without enough net income tax liability to absorb the credit in the year earned should plan utilization across the 5-year window deliberately, since unused credit after year 5 expires.

The Georgia Department of Revenue examines research credit claims under substantially the same substantiation expectations as the IRS under federal Section 41: business-component identification, four-part-test rationale, contemporaneous evidence, QRE allocation by employee, contractor, and supplies. The DOR additionally scrutinizes Georgia industry eligibility, Georgia in-state performance documentation, and the base amount calculation using Georgia gross receipts.

The binder R&D Binder produces is built to that standard from the federal side, and the Georgia workpaper carries employee location attribution and industry classification into the same business-component structure.

Our standard scope ends at delivering the binder and the state workpaper. Audit-defense engagement for a Georgia DOR examination is a separate scope at $250 per hour, scoped per-incident. We do not represent before the Georgia DOR; that stays with your CPA or your Georgia tax controversy attorney.

• Official Code of Georgia Annotated Section 48-7-40.12 (Tax Credit for Qualified Research Expenses).
• Georgia Department of Revenue Research Tax Credit overview.
• Georgia Department of Revenue Form IT-RD (Research Tax Credit).
• Georgia Department of Revenue 2025 IT-RD Research Tax Credit form.
• IRS Form 6765 (federal Credit for Increasing Research Activities) - Georgia conditions its credit on the federal claim for the same taxable year.

This page is general informational content, not tax advice for any specific taxpayer. The Georgia research credit is administered by the Georgia Department of Revenue. Form line references, rate citations, and carryforward windows reflect DOR published guidance as of May 2026. The 5-year carryforward for credits generated in tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2025 is a recent change; confirm current rules with your CPA or the DOR before filing.

• The Section 41 four-part test
• What is a qualified research expense (QRE)?
• Form 6765 and Section G
• Arizona R&D credit
• California R&D credit
• Connecticut R&D credit
• Delaware R&D credit