Don’t take it personally, but if you aren’t researching and developing new and improved methods of performing Information Technology to better equip your company to compete in its marketplaces, then you had better be purely in Operations.
> Section 5 of Rev. Proc. 2000-50 provides, “The costs of developing computer software (whether or not the particular software is patented or copyrighted) in many respects so closely resemble the kind of research and experimental expenditures that fall within the purview of section 174 as to warrant similar accounting treatment.” As a result, “the Service will not disturb a taxpayer’s treatment of costs paid or incurred in developing software for any particular project, either for the taxpayer’s own use or to be held by the taxpayer for sale or lease to others,” where the taxpayer either treated the costs as currently deductible expenses under former Sec. 174(a) or capitalized and amortized them under former Sec. 174(b) (id.).
Old industries - get paid for doing the actual work
Enterprise SW - get paid for automating things
Software companies - get paid for writing COTS (Commodity of the Shelves) software
Sharing economy startups - get paid percentage of every transaction in a specific marketplace