PSS TAX · SERVICE 04
AN R&D TAX CREDIT SPOTTER GUIDE
The Simple Test
Writing software isn’t automatically R&D — but some software development absolutely can be.
Look for development where experienced software professionals face genuine technological uncertainty around whether or how required functionality, performance, scalability, interoperability, security or architecture can be achieved using existing and readily available technology.
The key question is not simply “Is the software new?” but “What couldn’t experienced developers readily work out how to achieve?”
SaaS & Software Development
Don’t rule it out just because…
Open-source software was used
AWS/Azure or another established platform was used
Similar applications exist
The project was customer-funded
The software ultimately looks simple to the user
Developers eventually found a solution
R&D vs probably not R&D
Potentially R&D
Developing a new processing architecture after established approaches couldn’t handle the required transaction volume and latency reliably, requiring benchmarking and iterative architectural development.
Probably not R&D by itself
Building standard CRUD functionality or integrating a well-documented API using established methods.