The federal R&D tax credit can help food and beverage companies directly offset their tax liability based on qualified research expenses (QREs) for the development or improvement of products, formulations, processes, software, techniques or inventions. This credit generally amounts to approximately 5 to 10% of QREs for any given year. Businesses can also typically claim R&D tax credits retroactively for the three prior years by amending filed tax returns and can carry them forward for up to 20 years.