# January 2026 product update

This month’s exciting releases: Project Approval Tracking for ASC 350-40, real-time provision for US R&D, and smarter AI that means even less to review manually.

This month’s exciting releases: **Project Approval Tracking for ASC 350-40**, **real-time provision for US R&D**, and **smarter AI that means even less to review manually**.

#### Customer story: Red Ventures

“Neo.Tax can cut your workload at least in half.” — Chase Pierce, Senior Tax Accountant at Red Ventures. [Read the full story →](https://www.neo.tax/case-studies/red-ventures)

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#### ASC 350-40

##### 1. Project Approval Tracking + Comments

Managers can now formally approve projects by period with optional comments—creating the traceable, timestamped evidence your accounting team needs for audit controls.

Approvals auto-reset when key fields change (capitalization dates, status), so your documentation always reflects the current state. [Details here](/help-center/asc/project-approval)

![Screenshot from January 2026 product update](https://vaffozzswoq4jjsz.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/help-center/f35034ef-58fd-4a0b-bc94-6c42cde9cb72/january-2026-1.png)

##### 2. Smarter Detection of Operational & Maintenance Work

Enhanced AI more accurately identifies maintenance and ops work—catching projects that look like feature development but are actually access provisioning or support.

##### 3. Custom Field Support for Capitalization

Map them directly to NeoTax—no process change required. AI guidance still runs in the background to catch mismatches.

##### 4. Early Sync for Faster Book Close

Sync data before month-end and any tickets started or completed after your sync automatically roll into the next period.

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#### R&D Credit

##### 1. Real-Time Credit Forecasting for Provision

Update credit estimates monthly as the year progresses—no more relying on stale prior-year numbers. Existing project data carries forward while new activity syncs incrementally.

##### 2. Smarter R&D Eligibility Determinations → Faster Review

Enhanced AI model now makes more definitive qualified purpose calls, significantly reducing manual review for Tax and R&D teams.

![Screenshot from January 2026 product update](https://vaffozzswoq4jjsz.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/help-center/941da903-3883-4232-bc02-0e9eaf2d5845/january-2026-2.png)

##### 3. See Projects the Way Your R&D Team Thinks

Projects now show all the Jira Epics and Linear Projects underneath. Filter, group, and move entire Epics at once—faster review, audit-ready reports that map to how engineering actually tracks work.

![Screenshot from January 2026 product update](https://vaffozzswoq4jjsz.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/help-center/21766933-1e4b-4ee5-a54b-abd64d47d6e9/january-2026-3.png)

##### 4. Streamlined Payroll CSV Upload with Multi-State Support

New guided upload with built-in validation catches formatting errors upfront.

Supports employees with multiple state assignments, job titles, or wage types in a single file.

![Screenshot from January 2026 product update](https://vaffozzswoq4jjsz.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/help-center/83c5928c-01a7-4ac5-a5e4-d92922775aad/january-2026-4.png)

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#### Platform Enhancements

##### 1. Simplified Navigation—Pick Your Product, Then Your Period

Select ASC 350 or R&D first, then see only the relevant pages and periods for that workflow. Less clutter, fewer clicks

![Screenshot from January 2026 product update](https://vaffozzswoq4jjsz.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/help-center/42dbea04-2af7-40e3-9c39-9f2f3cfa085a/january-2026-5.png)

##### 2. Faster, More Reliable Data Syncs

Ongoing improvements to ticket syncing: faster processing, better handling of edge cases, and fewer failed syncs across Jira and other integrations.

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Questions about any of these updates? Reply to this email or email customer success for a personalized walkthrough.