HOW TO COMPLETE THE BUSINESS QUALIFICATION FORM BQF

HOW TO COMPLETE THE BUSINESS QUALIFICATION FORM (BQF) This Form Gathers Information For The Purpose of Explaining to American Incentive Advisors How Your Business Client Qualifies For R&D Tax Credit. All Information should filled out by the “customer”, it should be typed out, NOT handwritten! The better, detailed answers the customer provides, the more refund the business client will get! © 2020 BHJ MANAGEMENT SERVICES, LLC - ALL RIGHTS American Incentive Advisors uses the information submitted in the BQF along with the last 3 years of federal tax returns and 4 years of state tax returns to analyze how much R&D tax credit the business client is eligible to receive from the IRS and State agencies.

WILL EVERY U. S. BUSINESS MAY QUALIFY FOR THE R&D TAX CREDITS IF THEY HAVE PROFIT, EMPLOYEES AND PAY TAXES? • NO, not every business will qualify for the R&D Tax Credits. The odds a business will qualify for the R&D Tax Credit are more likely if the business client creates products and services, improves existing products and or improves how they run their business, but there are hundreds of qualifying research activities in almost all industries. Special Note: There really are no restrictions of the types of industries that can qualify for R&D Tax Credits! The question is do they preform any of the Qualifying Research Activities. There are many businesses that do things to either make their business function easier or better or to grow their business which may qualify them for the R&D Tax Credits! © 2020 BHJ MANAGEMENT SERVICES, LLC - ALL RIGHTS

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE QUALIFYING RESEARCH ACTIVITIES (QRA) A BUSINESS MUST DO TO GET R&D TAX CREDITS? • Low tech companies may be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit. • And high tech companies also are eligible for the R&D Tax Credit. • So whether the business client is a doctor, dentist, plumber, electrician of is a more high-tech business, all should apply. Your answers to the Business Qualification Form should relate to these types of QRAs. © 2020 BHJ MANAGEMENT SERVICES, LLC - ALL RIGHTS

THE BEST PROCEDURES TO FOLLOW TO COMPLETE THE BUSINESS TAX INCENTIVE QUALIFICATION FORM Experience has taught us that there is no one person in any company in a position to answer all the questions accurately. Therefore, the main business contact for this project should read each question and make a note on which senior executive or senior manager is the best qualified to provide the best explanations and details for each type of QRA. There a few things to caution a business client about 1. Do Not attempt to have just one person respond to all these questions, whether that is you or someone you assign to complete this form. 2. Do Not skip taking time to explain the importance of being thorough in responding to these questions because this completed form could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for some companies! As the CPA firm supporting your business client, a short phone call is usually adequate, although some of our primary contacts call a meeting or conference call of everyone chosen to work on this project just to handle answering everyone’s questions at one time. 3. The CPA firm should make available this ENTIRE document to their business client because it includes an overview of how companies benefit in applying for the R&D Tax Credit, so everyone is on the same page.

IS THE BUSINESS QUALIFICATION FORM (BQF) A PDF OR WORD DOCUMENT? • There is a BQF PDF document, but it is more of an outline and hence there is limited space to answer each question, it is NOT recommended that you use this PDF form. • Instead, the same BFQ information has been created using a WORD Document so that you can have as much space as you need to answer each of the questions. • The title of this BQF WORD document is “Customer Business Qualification Form”. • On the last page, there is a section at the top of the page for the CPA firm to enter and sign all of YOUR INFORMATON as the American Incentive Advisors consultant. The authorized business client will also fill out the short form at the bottom of the page and sign at the bottom of this last page. This last page is referred to as the Signature Page. It is not sent to the business client until the CPA firm has reviewed the completed BQF WORD document. • All the other pages in the middle consist of answers to questions and data that the business client will input on the BQF. © 2020 BHJ MANAGEMENT SERVICES, LLC - ALL RIGHTS

REVIEW THE BUSINESS CLIENT’S BQF BEFORE YOU SEND THE SIGNATURE PAGE AS A SEPARATE PDF TO THE BUSINESS CLIENT 1) Once you have reviewed the Client BQF Document, then email your business client the Final Signature PDF Page. The CPA firm should enter all your information and have signed it in the Top Part of this page. 2) Then email this Signature Page to your business client for them to complete the information requested at the bottom of the Signature Page. 3) Then provide your business client instructions to sign it, scan it into a PDF, and email it back to you. © 2020 BHJ MANAGEMENT SERVICES, LLC - ALL RIGHTS

THE TOP PART OF THE FINAL PAGE The above is the bottom part of the last page. What it asks is self-evident. It’s your information as the CPA firm Consultant submitting the BQF. Be sure to sign and date this document before you send it to your business client for them to complete, sign, and date the bottom part of the last page. © 2020 BHJ MANAGEMENT SERVICES, LLC - ALL RIGHTS

THE BOTTOM PART OF THE FINAL PAGE The above is the bottom part of the last page. What it asks is self-evident. It’s the information asked of your business client including the following. “Dated at (City / State) – Date (Month/Day/Year) “Full Legal Business Name” “Signature (Must be signed by authorized business owner) “Print Name” © 2020 BHJ MANAGEMENT SERVICES, LLC - ALL RIGHTS

IN CLOSING, REMEMBER • Everything entered by your business client in the Business Qualification Form (BQF) is to support and help justify that your business client is eligible to receive R&D Tax Credits and that they can maximize their R&D Tax Credit. • The better your business client qualifies their answers, the more refund your business clients will get! • Do not use the PDF version of the Business Qualification Form (BQF). Instead use the Detailed WORD Document which will allow your business client to expand on their answers with plenty of space. © 2020 BHJ MANAGEMENT SERVICES, LLC - ALL RIGHTS