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Comment by sangnoir

3 years ago

What would a welder do that isn't research or development? I believe for both jobs certain tasks are journeyman-like, but others are legit R&D. I don't think software ought to be blanket-exempted because its done on a computer.

Here's the IRS' guidance on software: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/audit-guidelines-on-the-appli...

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sangnoir

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TylerE  3 years ago

> What would a welder do that isn't research or development?

Weld stuff?

  • jdmichal  3 years ago

    Isn't welding just "developing" metal products?

    That's why you have to take into account that it's "research and development", and not "research" and "development". As in research and the development of that research, not separately research and development.

    • function_seven  3 years ago

      Yeah, forcing physical-world norms into technology will always result in weird shit like this.

      For the "real" world, Research would be studying different compounds to see which ones work well as anode or cathode.

      Development would be creating the industrial processes required to scale up manufacturing, or the ancillary infrastructure to support the new battery, or designing a new package for this awesome new cell. All the things that take the new thing from the lab to a marketable product.

      So if you come up with a new method for welding ("My new filler alloy reduces argon requirements by half!" or "My new pulsing methodology results in 23% stronger welds between dissimilar alloys.") That's Research. Then the Development of that might be "How do we manufacture these new filler rods to the exacting specs required?" or "We need to have the EE people incorporate my pulsing algo in our welders. Right now it's running on an Arduino in the lab, we need it included in next year's Welder XL4000 model."

      Actually doing the weld is just doing the job.

      So, back to software. What kind of coding is considered R&D and what is considered "just doing the job"? I guess creating new algorithms, or new features that you expect to be in the product for years to come; those would be R&D. Whereas fixing bugs, working on Kubernetes stuff, writing database backup routines, etc. would not be?

      I don't know. This is just my impression of the difference. I'm no economist.

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  • hellojesus  3 years ago

    Welding stuff is developing a product. Basically the same thing software developers do. It seems like a nonsense differentiation if those are categorized differently for taxes.