If I can only deduct 200k of the 1m I spent that inflates my net profits by 800k that I dont actually have, because I spent it on what I thought was an expense.
It changes what is considered a deductible expense.
Profits = Revenue net Costs
Taxes are a cost. Taxes are defined as some rate t, tax = t * (Revenue net Deductible Expenses)
So Profits = Revenue - t * (Revenue - Deductible Expense) - Non-deductible Expense
Percent of t is small relative to the value of 100% applied to non-deductible expense. What this has done is to take salary, deployment infra, everything, from Deductible to Non-deductible expense, leaving 20% of what was there before. That is very large.
If you make $2,000,000 gross, spend $800,000 on operating expenses, and $1,000,000 on R&D, you practically have $200,000 profit; but you have pay $210,000 in federal tax on $1,000,000.
Yes, but it's changing the way profits are calculated, which massively impacts cash flows.
If I can only deduct 200k of the 1m I spent that inflates my net profits by 800k that I dont actually have, because I spent it on what I thought was an expense.
It changes what is considered a deductible expense.
Profits = Revenue net Costs
Taxes are a cost. Taxes are defined as some rate t, tax = t * (Revenue net Deductible Expenses)
So Profits = Revenue - t * (Revenue - Deductible Expense) - Non-deductible Expense
Percent of t is small relative to the value of 100% applied to non-deductible expense. What this has done is to take salary, deployment infra, everything, from Deductible to Non-deductible expense, leaving 20% of what was there before. That is very large.
You deduct (eligible) expenses from revenue to get (taxable) profit
If you make $2,000,000 gross, spend $800,000 on operating expenses, and $1,000,000 on R&D, you practically have $200,000 profit; but you have pay $210,000 in federal tax on $1,000,000.
Well no, you have a 1.2M profit, and decided to reinvest 1M into R&D to produce a software asset.
It's bad that the tax treatment changes suddenly because businesses need stability, but the change itself is perfectly rational.