Founder to founder:
I almost left mine on the table.
I built this kit so you don’t have to.
Your software dev spend between 2022–2024 may be sitting on a five or six-figure refund — and the window closes July 6.
Built For:
Built for SaaS founders · ecommerce operators · dev agencies · in-house software teams · bootstrapped online businesses
{{first_name|”Ok”}}, I’ll keep it quick and honest…
I’m not a CPA. I’m a founder who paid software developers between 2022 and 2024 and watched my tax bill balloon under the section 174 capitalization rules — the same rules that hit a lot of you. When the One Big Beautiful Bill Act fixed it in July 2025 and quietly opened a one-year window to amend the bad years, I assumed my CPA would handle it. He didn’t — not because he was lazy, but because it’s a narrow, fiddly election with a specifically-titled statement, section 280C coordination math, and state non-conformity landmines, and most generalist CPAs (mine included) don’t do this kind of amendment.
So I dug in. I read Rev. Proc. 2025-28 cover to cover. I built spreadsheets to classify my own expenses. I worked with a CPA who does do this work to pressure-test my approach. Once we’d cleaned up my return, the same CPA looked at the workbook and said, “If you packaged this, a lot of other founders would file this election who otherwise aren’t going to.”
That’s what this is. The packaged version of what I did.
— Michael
What actually happened to your taxes between 2022 and 2024?
For three years, the tax code forced every U.S. business that paid for software development to spread that deduction across five years instead of writing it off the year the money left your account.
If you ran a small business with under $31M in receipts and paid developers, contractors, or technical staff during 2022, 2023, or 2024 — that rule almost certainly inflated your taxable income and you paid the bill on the inflated number. For some founders, taxable income went from $100K to $470K on identical real-world cash flow. Real tax bills, real cash gone.
OBBBA, signed July 4, 2025, killed that rule going forward. But the part most founders don’t know:
Eligible small businesses (under $31M in gross receipts — which probably includes you) got a one-time window to go back and amend 2022, 2023, and 2024 returns. The IRS sends you a check for the difference.
Heads-up: the §6511 refund statute of limitations has already closed 2022 for most filers who didn’t extend, but 2023 and 2024 are still in play. The Eligibility Primer in the kit walks you through which of your years are still open in 90 seconds.
The window closes Monday, July 6, 2026. After that, the money is gone — not deferred, not delayed, gone — for those years
The window closes Monday, July 6, 2026. After that, the money is gone — not deferred, not delayed, gone — for those years.
Why most founders are about to miss this
When I went hunting for help, I hit the same three walls you probably did:
- Generic CPAs decline the work. They look at Rev. Proc. 2025-28, see the section 280C coordination, the election statement requirements, the state non-conformity (CA, NJ, others), and tell you they don’t file that kind of amendment. Not their wheelhouse.
- Specialist R&D firms charge 20–40% of your refund. Pilot publicly charges 20%. Industry standard for R&D specialists is 25–40% contingency. On a refund of {{refund_estimate_range|”$60K – $80K”}}, that’s a huge invoice for documentation a competent CPA could file in 3–4 hours if someone handed them the right packet.
- The IRS Rev. Proc. is 16 pages of dense Treasury prose. Technically actionable if you have the time and a superhuman tolerance for footnotes. Most of us don’t.
- The clock is the loudest thing in the room. It’s May. The window closes July 6. Every week you wait, more CPAs hit capacity on this exact work.
What this kit is…
…and what it isn’t.
Being straight with you so you can make a real decision:
It is a founder-friendly Google Drive folder. One workbook, four reference documents, a glossary card, and a printable decision flowchart. Built to turn the section 174A amendment from “I need a $15K specialist” into “I hand my CPA a 4-page packet and they bill me 3 hours.”
It is not tax or legal advice. It does not file your return for you. It does not guarantee a refund. It will not replace your CPA — it will equip your CPA to do the work efficiently.
If you’d rather pay a specialist 20% to handle the whole thing, hire Pilot or Strike Tax. They’re competent. Honestly. This kit is for the {{first_name|”founder”}}s of the world who already have a CPA who can file an amendment if someone hands them the right materials — and would rather pay $497 + a few CPA hours than $5K–$20K to a specialty firm.
What’s Inside:
The Refund Sprint Kit
You get a single Google Drive folder with everything below.
One link, everything organized, lifetime access through July 6, 2026
The Refund Opportunity Workbook
Google Sheets — the hero tool
A founder-friendly workbook designed to help you:
- Organize qualifying development expenses by year and category
- Track the documentation you’ll need to pull
- Classify expenses into likely-qualifying buckets
- Generate a CPA-facing summary you can hand off as a single document
- Surface the questions your CPA actually needs answered before they quote you
Six Tabs
Instructions Overview
Exactly how to use the workbook step by step.
Expense Gathering
helps you locate and pull expense reports from QuickBooks, Stripe, Mercury, payroll, and contractor invoices
Expense Classification
list and classify expenses with pre-filled categories
Documentation Checklist
Keep track of the documentation you have and what you still need.
CPA Summary Export
Auto-magically calculated summary for your CPA based on your expenses and classifications
Questions For Your CPA
Guided prompts around eligibility, filing strategy and documentation to make your CPA’s job super easy.
Also Included:
§174A Refund Eligibility Primer
Google Doc — read this before anything else
A 5-page primer that walks you through:
- The three eligibility tests (gross receipts, tax shelter status, all-years requirement)
- The §6511 deadline trap — which of your years are still open, which are already closed
- What counts as domestic R&E (and what doesn’t)
- The honest “skip this if” list — when the math doesn’t work and you should pass
I’d rather screen you out on page 2 than have you spend two weekends on the workbook to discover you don’t qualify. If after reading this you’re not eligible, email me and I’ll refund the kit. No questions.
Election Statement Pack
Google Doc — copy-paste-ready templates
The technical heart of the kit.
Eight draft election statement templates, structured so your CPA can copy, finalize, and file:
- Sole proprietor / single-member LLC (Form 1040-X)
- S-corporation (Form 1120-S amended)
- C-corporation (Form 1120-X)
- Non-BBA partnership (Form 1065 amended)
- BBA partnership AAR (Form 8082)
- Late §280C(c)(2) election under Rev. Proc. 2025-28 §4.03
- §280C(c)(2) revocation under §5.03
- Statement in lieu of Form 3115 (method-change alternative)
Each template uses the IRS-required title exactly and includes all six declarations required under §3.03(2). Plus a filing checklist for everything that must be true before you transmit.
State Conformity Cheat Sheet
Google Doc — 15 top states + selected others
The cheat sheet tells you, state by state:
- Whether the state conforms (rolling), is decoupled, or hasn’t yet acted
- What that means for your state amendment — refund available, state already gave you the deduction, or no state amendment to file
- Specific notes on California, New York, Texas, Florida, Washington, Massachusetts, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, Colorado, Virginia, Arizona, North Carolina, and New Jersey — plus Delaware, Michigan, Indiana, Maryland, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the no-corporate-tax states
Sourced from the Council on State Taxation (COST) §174 conformity chart, updated as states act through July 6, 2026.
§280C Decision Flowchart
High-resolution PNG — print or pin
The §280C(c)(2) election (reduced credit vs. reduce the deduction) is the single trickiest decision in this election.
The flowchart maps it visually:
- Entry conditions and pre-checks
- Five decision nodes (late election, revocation, tiebreakers, escalation triggers)
- The core math — it comes down to one question: is your effective marginal rate above or below 21%?
5919×4538 pixels — sharp enough to print poster-size for your wall or hand to your CPA.
Glossary Card
Google Doc — one page, print and pin
Understand these four terms that get confused constantly:
- §174
- §174A
- §41 R&D credit
- §280C.
The glossary card disambiguates all four on a single page. Print it. Pin it next to your monitor while you work the kit. When you’re on the phone with your CPA, you’ll use the right term every time.
Plus: Free updates through July 6, 2026
If the IRS issues new guidance, a state legislature acts on §174A conformity, or any document needs a clarification before the deadline, the update gets pushed to every buyer. Free. Until the window closes.
The Refund Sprint Kit may be a good fit if:
- You paid developers, contractors, or technical staff between 2022 and 2024
- Your taxes felt unexpectedly high during those years
- Your CPA mentioned section 174 capitalization (or you’ve seen the term and felt unsure)
- You build software, apps, automations, or ecommerce systems
- Your refund estimate ({{refund_estimate_range|”once you know what it is”}}) is large enough to justify a few hours of organized work
This is probably NOT for you if:
- You had little or no software development activity in 2022–2024
- Your refund estimate is small enough that a $497 product can’t pay for itself
- You’re already engaged with a specialist firm and they’ve got it handled
- You want full done-for-you filing without any CPA involvement on your end
The time bound reality
The window closes Monday, July 6, 2026. Here’s what that looks like in practice, {{first_name|”my friend”}}:
- Week 1: Pull your records and fill the workbook
- Week 2: Hand the packet to your CPA, get a quote, get on their calendar
- Weeks 3–5: Your CPA files the election and the amended returns
- Done before mid-June: Before the window starts compressing late filers competing for CPA hours
Start in June and you’re racing CPAs who are already at capacity on this exact work.
Refund Sprint Kit
$497
Includes:
- Refund Opportunity Workbook (Google Sheets)
- §174A Refund Eligibility Primer (Google Doc)
- Election Statement Pack (Google Doc, 8 templates)
- State Conformity Cheat Sheet (Google Doc)
- §280C Decision Flowchart (high-res PNG)
- Glossary Card (Google Doc)
- Free updates through July 6, 2026
Get Started.
Get Organized.
Get Your Money Back.
The Window Is Limited
{{first_name|”Ok”}}, one last thing. If you’re right about your numbers {{refund_estimate_range|”and your estimate looks meaningful, this”}} could be significantly helpful, no? If the math looks anything close to what the estimator showed you, treat July 6 like the hard deadline it actually is. Order the kit, block a Saturday morning, fill it in, and email your CPA Monday. That’s the whole play.
— Michael
P.S. Bought, used the kit, your CPA filed? Email me. I read every reply, and the next workbook update is shaped by what real buyers ran into.
The Refund Sprint Kit is an organizational tool, not legal or tax advice. Eligibility for the section 174A small business retroactivity election depends on facts and circumstances specific to your business, including average gross receipts and the specific years for which the section 6511 refund statute of limitations is still open. We strongly recommend reviewing your situation with a qualified CPA or tax professional before filing. No refund is guaranteed.