Industry Brief  ·  Diagnostic Imaging

Every new modality is a trial.

The federal R&D tax credit pays for bringing new scanners, AI tools, and screening protocols into an imaging center. Most centers never claim it.

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It costs nothing to find out. If there isn't enough credit to be worth claiming, you don't pay a thing.

New to youis enough. A tool or protocol your center hasn't run before can count when you had to test your way to it. A scanner you bought doesn't.
4 years of creditin one study: this year, plus past years still open to amend, usually three.
Exam supportcomes with every study. If the IRS asks, we answer.

What counts in your center

Work you already bill for
  • AI second-read evaluationScoring an AI tool against your readers and reporting where it marks the wrong spot.
  • Automated ultrasound protocolsWorking out positioning, contact, and capture settings for whole-breast scans.
  • New modalitiesFitting a new scanner or capture method into your screening workflow.
  • Cloud imagingBuilding your own cloud reading setup when no vendor setup could handle your volume.
  • Prior-study comparisonLoading years of outside images so a tool can track change over time.
  • Patient intake integrationBuilding new links between apps when no product on the market could do it.
  • Algorithm updatesReworking your protocol when a vendor change breaks what worked.
  • Outcome trackingRecalls and true positives by reader and site: the records that prove a new protocol worked.

The four questions, for imaging centers

§41's four-part test
  1. Did you bring in a modality, tool, or protocol new to your center?It doesn't have to be new to radiology.
  2. Did it take real know-how?Your protocols rest on imaging physics and biology; your software on computer science.
  3. Were you unsure at the start?Will automated ultrasound capture every patient the same way?
  4. Did you try options to find out?Sample sets, recalls, and revised protocols are exactly that.

Unsure about any of these? That's what the call is for. The four-part test in plain English

Imaging centers ask

We're a clinical practice, not a research lab. Does this apply?

Often. Buying and installing a vendor's tool doesn't count. Working out your own protocol for it, when you weren't sure what would work, can.

We pay a vendor to host our images. Does that count?

Hosting and retention fees paid while a tool is under evaluation can count as computer rental. The scanner itself doesn't; it's depreciated.

Do we need to be in a formal clinical trial?

No. Your own protocol evaluation and outcome tracking are what the study relies on.

We're an S corporation with a company per location. Who gets the credit?

Commonly owned companies figure one credit together, split it among them, then pass it to owners by ownership share. A location with an outside partner is split the same way.

What do we send to get started?

Tax returns, W-2s and W-3s for the study years, and a list of projects you had underway. Then a call with whoever ran each one.

Filing, how far back, exams, and costs: common questions.

For your CPA: where the credit goes on Form 1120, 1120-S, 1065, or 1040.

Other industry briefs

Where else it lands
Radiology

Your reads are research.

Validating AI-assisted reads and building protocols for new capture methods can qualify.

Read the brief Medical Imaging

Your image pipeline is research.

Building interfaces and integrations nobody sold you can be qualified development.

Read the brief Medical Practices

Your protocols are research.

Building and testing the protocols around new technology in patient care can qualify.

Read the brief

Give us thirty minutes.

Bring whoever ran your last new modality or AI rollout. You'll leave knowing whether your center's work qualifies.

Book a call Not ready to talk? See if you’re a fit in two minutes.