(I put this in a reply further down, but bringing it to the top)
Previously if a company has a million dollars in revenue and spends a million dollars on the salaries of software developers, this is how their taxable income might look:
1,000,000 Revenue
- 1,000,000 Salary expense
-----------
0 Profit
The new law would instead work like this:
1,000,000 Revenue
- 200,000 1/5th Salary expense
-----------
800,000 Profit
Now the company must pay taxes on 800,000 of profit because "R&D salaries," which includes software devs, must be amortized over five years. Obviously the company has no wherewithal to pay, given that they made a million and spent a million. That's the problem.
Previously if a company has a million dollars in revenue and spends a million dollars on the salaries of software developers, this is how their taxable income might look:
The new law would instead work like this: Now the company must pay taxes on 800,000 of profit because "R&D salaries," which includes software devs, must be amortized over five years. Obviously the company has no wherewithal to pay, given that they made a million and spent a million. That's the problem.