Justworks R&D Tax Credits

Increasing the amount of eligible customers claiming the R&D tax credit while streamlining the claims process.

My role

Defined MVP and led user research, partnering closed with Tax Client Services team
Created the service design experience of the new R&D tax credit claims process considering both the customer and back of stage POVs
Facilitated collaborative workshops with content design, product marketing, and engineering

Results

Removed CSOs (customer success) role from the tax credit management process, allowing them to focus on other areas
On average, Justworks is distributing $89k of credit back to their customers
New R&D education page led to 128% increase in Help center views YOY
Review of an “easy” submission down from 30mins to 10mins, estimating 210 hours saved across 700 submissions

Context

Background

The Federal Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit is an income tax credit that may be claimed by companies who have expenditures related to the research and development of new processes and products, among other things. To be eligible to claim the credit, companies must meet a series of tests determined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

In 2015, the Protecting Americans From Tax Hikes (PATH) Act was passed, making R&D credits more accessible to small businesses.

Problem

Justworks saw a 9,675% increase in the number of customers submitting claims for R&D between 2016 and 2021. We needed a way to scale processes to receive and review R&D claims. Additionally, it was estimated that 50% of customers may be eligible for R&D tax credits while only 4% were submitting claims, meaning there was an opportunity to educate and spread customer awareness. As part of that effort, Justworks partnered with two accounting firms specializing in R&D tax credits, opening up a new line of revenue.

Approach

The approach was split into three milestones:

Launch a product page on R&D tax credits to spread awareness of accounting partnerships prior to in-app submission flow launch
Create a new in-app claims submission flow to collect the necessary information and documents from the customer for Justworks to file
Create a new internal tool for the Client Tax Services team to manage and review customer submissions

Educating customers

In order to inform customers on R&D tax credits and our accounting partnerships with two outside accounting firms, the team focused on an initial launch of a details page. I utilized webinars from the Client Tax Services team as well other online literature to quickly get get an understanding of the tax credits. I then facilitated a content workshop with key stakeholders to plan out the content needed to educate customers. The launch of the details page was a success and utilized by support teams in their communication as they spread awareness.

Content workshop

R&D tax credit details page

Submitting claims

Next I created a new in-app customer facing flow, allowing customers to submit their their paperwork and apply for the R&D tax credit on time. Previously this was handled as a back and forth between the customer and the Customer Success team through email and Jira. This new process would elimate the dependency on Customer Success. I worked closely with our Client Tax Services team to define the necessary information and documents to capture in the workflow.

Service design

R&D tax credit details page

Tax credit management

Through techniqus such as shadowing, card sorting, and usability testing, I partnered ith the Client Tax Services team to understand their processes and how best to support them with internal tolling as ell as their communication with the customer.

Research

Activity tracking

There are always a minimum of two reviews. In each review step, the reviewer needs an understanding of what happened previously.

Activity types can be status/workflow changes, notes, and emails.

Missing information

There was data that reviewers found in other areas on CS Tools such as account flags and previous documents.

Data was being pulled using Redash queries such as who a customer's Account Manager as, the member type, and current entity type.

There was also data being pulled from Jira such as number of previous years the company has received tax credits.

Ability to eaily verify information

Reviewers utilized a side by side review, opening up Form 6765 or 9874 and layering windows to easily verify information matches.

WThe Client Tax Services team also needed the ability to understand which information had been verified and which information needed a follow up which the team was currently managing in a spreadsheet.

Internal tool

Status Management

Reflection

While the workflow diagram was sufficient to communicate processes, there was an opportunity to push further into service design.

Halfway through the project I realized I needed to adjust the review process so legal was always the final reviewer. Previously content design was trying to make copy changes post legal review.

Future opportunity to utilize OCR or AI to eliminate need for internal teams to manually cross check information.