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Most tax conversations focus on what you owe. Far fewer focus on what is available to you and simply never gets claimed.
Plenty of businesses qualify for credits and incentives without realizing it. Usually it is not because the business does not qualify. It is because nobody stopped to flag that a particular activity, hire, or investment was credit-eligible in the first place.
Why Last Year’s Answer May Not Apply This Year
Tax credits are similar year to year, but new information, laws, and bills are introduced at both the federal and state level. To make sure you are getting the maximum credit for your business, you should never assume everything is the same annually.
A good example is the federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit, a long-standing incentive for hiring workers from certain targeted groups. It expired at the end of 2025 and, as of this writing, has not been renewed. Businesses that built it into their hiring plans for years now need to check where it stands rather than assume it is still there.
Credits Worth Asking About
The federal research and development credit. This credit is not just for labs and tech companies. Businesses that develop new products, improve processes, or build custom software may have activities that qualify. It requires careful documentation, which is a big reason it often goes unclaimed.
Missouri’s Qualified Research Expense Tax Credit. Missouri brought back its own research credit for tax years beginning in 2023. The Missouri Department of Economic Development runs the program with an annual application window, so timing matters. Miss the window and the credit waits another year.
Missouri Works. If your business is expanding, adding jobs, or investing in a Missouri facility, the Missouri Works program may offer state tax credits or let you retain withholding taxes on new jobs. Some steps have to happen before you announce or start a project, so it pays to ask early.
Make It Part of Every Planning Conversation
The businesses that capture these credits consistently are not doing anything aggressive. They are simply asking the question every year. That fits naturally alongside the other moves closely held businesses should make before year end, and alongside checking whether growth has created tax exposure in new states.
Our tax compliance and planning services are built to ask that question for you, every year, rather than letting it come up by accident.
Has Anyone Checked What Your Business Qualifies for This Year?
If the answer is “not recently,” that is worth fixing before year end. Contact cHb Advisors to start the conversation.
