Section G: business component detail
Business component detail: optional before 2026, required after unless one of two exceptions applies, and the 80%/top 50 rule.
Section G lists the research one business component at a time: the entity, its business code, the component's name, whether it's a product, a process or something else, what kind of software it is, and its wages (doing, supervising, supporting), supplies, computers and contract research. For tax years beginning before 2026 it's optional for everyone. From 2026 it's required, unless the filer is a qualified small business taking the payroll election, or the claim is small: QREs of $1,500,000 or less, average gross receipts of $50,000,000 or less, on an original return.
- Tax yearBefore 2026: optional for everyone.
- Payroll election?Qualified small business taking the payroll election: not required.
- Small claim?QREs ≤ $1,500,000, receipts ≤ $50,000,000, original return: not required.
- RequiredEveryone else: required.
When it's required, it covers at least 80% of the QREs by business component, in descending order, but no more than 50 components, with the rest reported as one aggregate line. Column 49(f), the information about the research, is required only on an amended return claiming new or more credit.
Where this lesson's rules come from
The sources behind this lesson's requirements, by kind. Anything marked as a convention is ours, not the rule-maker's.
- IRS guidance
- Instructions for Form 6765 (Rev. December 2025), What's New (opens in a new tab)Section G, business component information: optional before 2026, required afterPDF · Free to read
- IRS, Required information for a valid research credit claim for refund (opens in a new tab)What an amended-return research credit claim must containFree to read
The words this page teaches
Each links to its glossary definition, which also names the authority behind it and the components that render it.
- Business componentThe unit qualified research is tested and reported in: a product, process, computer software, technique, formula or invention held for sale, lease or license or used in the taxpayer's own business — listed one by one in Form 6765, Section G
- Form 6765The IRS form that figures the research credit, makes the §280C reduced credit election (Item A), the ASC election (Section B) and the qualified small business payroll election (Section D), and reports QREs (Section F) and business components (Section G, required for tax years beginning after 2025 with exceptions)