R&D Claim Health Check

What it is for

Some businesses and firms do not need a system for monitoring many claims. They have one claim, perhaps prepared by an AI agent or by a member of staff, and they want to know whether it is likely to stand up. The health check is built for that situation. It is a one-off AI mock audit of a single claim, run before filing, that reports where the claim's support looks weak and what to do about it.

It is the entry point to the creditARMOR features. A firm that finds it useful can move to scoring, monitoring and the portfolio tools. A business that only ever has one claim may never need more.

A worked example (illustrative)

This scenario is invented. A small engineering company has prepared its own claim with an AI agent and wants a second opinion before its CPA signs. It loads the claim and records. The health check finds that two of the three projects are well supported, with dated notes and test results. For the third, the description reads like routine product work and the time allocations are round figures with no records. The company collects timesheets for the third project, rewrites its description to explain what was uncertain, and decides, with its CPA, to reduce the amount claimed for it. The check did not decide anything. It pointed to where to look.

Reading the findings sensibly

Treat the findings as questions to answer. Some will be easy: a missing invoice, an undated note. Some will need discussion: a project that may or may not meet the test. A few may lead to a change in the claim. Work from the top of the list, make a note of what you decide and why, and keep that note with the claim. If you make substantial changes, run the check again.

Limits

The health check tests only what it is given, so it cannot find problems in records that were not loaded. It is not tax or legal advice and it does not replace the judgment of a licensed CPA or enrolled agent. A mock audit does not guarantee acceptance of a claim or predict whether it will be examined. Details of the feature are confirmed by Swanson Reed.

How it relates to the other features

The health check answers one question: where does this claim stand today? If the answer is "reasonably well", you may need nothing more. If the answer is "with several weak spots", the gap finder shows which records are missing, scoring gives a ranked view and monitoring keeps watching as you fix things. Firms that use the check on many claims often find it makes sense to move to the dashboard, which holds them all in one view. The health check does not commit you to any of that.

Preparing your team

People are sometimes anxious about a test. It helps to explain that its purpose is to find problems early, when they are cheap to fix, and that findings are normal. Share the result with the people who can act on it: the technical lead for weak descriptions, the finance lead for cost records, the reviewer for judgment questions. And keep the tone practical. A health check is a routine step, like a proofread before sending an important letter.