OBBBA created new IRC Section 174A, letting businesses fully deduct domestic R&D costs again starting with 2025 tax returns — reversing the 5-year capitalization rule TCJA imposed in 2022. A retroactive window let small businesses fix 2022-2024 returns early, but it closed July 6, 2026.
OBBBA's new IRC Section 174A restores full current-year deductibility of domestic research and experimentation costs for tax years beginning in 2025, reversing the TCJA rule that mandated 5-year amortization since 2022. A retroactive-election window let qualifying small businesses (average gross receipts under $31 million) fix 2022-2024 returns early, but that window closed July 6, 2026.
If your business pays people to build software, develop new products, or run engineering and product-testing work, the tax code's treatment of those costs has been unstable for a few years — and it just changed again. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) created a new section of the tax code, IRC §174A, that restores full current-year deductibility for domestic research and experimentation (R&E) expenses. A related small-business relief provision let qualifying businesses retroactively fix their 2022-2024 returns under the new rule — but per IRS guidance, that window closed on July 6, 2026.
Here's what the rule actually says now, who it affects, and what to know if you missed the retroactive window.
Before 2022, businesses could generally deduct domestic research and experimentation costs in the year they were paid or incurred — a straightforward current-year expense. A provision in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act changed that starting with tax years beginning after December 31, 2021: per IRS interim guidance, domestic R&E costs had to be capitalized and amortized over five years instead of deducted immediately (15 years for research performed outside the U.S.). For R&D-heavy small businesses, that meant paying tax on income that had already gone out the door to cover salaries and contractor costs for research work — a real cash-flow hit, since the deduction was stretched out even though the expense was already paid.
OBBBA reverses that for domestic research. Under the new IRC §174A, per IRS guidance, for tax years beginning after December 31, 2024:
For R&E capitalized during the 2022-2024 window under the old mandatory rule, any unamortized balance can be recovered — either fully in the 2025 tax year, or ratably over 2025 and 2026, depending on which method the business elects.
This applies to any business that incurs qualifying domestic research and experimentation costs — most commonly:
It does not apply to businesses without R&E spending — routine operating expenses, marketing, or general administrative costs aren't affected by this rule regardless of industry.
A special provision let *qualified small businesses* apply the new §174A rules early — retroactively, to tax years beginning after December 31, 2021 and before January 1, 2025 (in practice, the 2022, 2023, and 2024 tax years). To qualify, a business's average annual gross receipts — combined with any aggregated group — couldn't exceed $31 million, an inflation-adjusted threshold tested against the 2025 tax year specifically.
Eligible businesses that wanted to use this relief had to file amended returns or Administrative Adjustment Requests by the earlier of July 6, 2026, or their normal refund-claim deadline under IRC §6511. That date has now passed. If your business qualified and didn't file by then, this particular retroactive-fix window is closed — the mechanics involved amended returns (Form 1040-X or 1120-X), an accounting-method change (Form 4562, Form 3115), and in some cases R&D credit coordination (Form 6765, Form 3800), which is enough procedural complexity that this is genuinely a "talk to your tax preparer" situation rather than a same-day fix.
The practical takeaway if you missed it: the current-law treatment (full expensing, tax years 2025 forward) still applies to your *current and future* R&E spending regardless. What you lost is the chance to unwind the 5-year amortization schedule on 2022-2024 research costs early. Ask your tax preparer whether any other mechanism — outside the small-business relief window covered here — might still apply to your specific prior-year filings; that's a more involved question than this piece can answer.
Starting with the 2025 tax year, a business with domestic R&E spending has an actual choice for the first time since the 2022 mandatory-capitalization rule kicked in:
Either way, this is now a genuine planning decision to walk through with a tax professional each year, not a fixed rule imposed on you.
Even with full current-year expensing restored, there's still a timing gap: you pay for engineering salaries, contractor invoices, and prototyping costs throughout the year, but the tax benefit doesn't show up until you file. For a business investing heavily in product development, that gap can strain cash flow at exactly the wrong moment — mid-project, before revenue from the new product line has started.
A business line of credit is a common way SMBs bridge that kind of timing mismatch — draw against it to cover payroll or contractor costs during a heavy R&D push, then pay it down once revenue (or a tax refund tied to the prior year's research spend) comes in. As covered in What Underwriters Actually Look for on Tax Returns, lenders reviewing a research-heavy business's tax returns will typically want to understand whether R&E costs were expensed or amortized in a given year, since it affects reported taxable income — worth having that answer ready when you apply.
OBBBA's new IRC §174A restores immediate deductibility for domestic research and experimentation costs for tax years beginning after 2024 — reversing the 5-year capitalization rule that had squeezed R&D-heavy small businesses' cash flow since 2022. A retroactive-election window let qualifying small businesses (under $31M in average gross receipts) fix their 2022-2024 returns early, but that window closed July 6, 2026. Going forward, businesses now choose annually between full expensing and a 60-month amortization election — a real planning decision worth reviewing with a tax professional before you file.
*This post is educational and does not constitute tax advice. Consult a qualified tax professional for guidance specific to your business's research expenses and filing history.*
Section 174A is a new part of the tax code created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). For tax years beginning after December 31, 2024, it lets businesses fully deduct domestic research and experimentation (R&E) costs in the year they're paid or incurred — or elect instead to capitalize and amortize those costs over a minimum 60-month period. It reverses the TCJA rule that had mandated 5-year amortization for domestic R&E since 2022.
No. The retroactive election let qualifying small businesses (average annual gross receipts of $31 million or less, tested against the 2025 tax year) apply the new Section 174A rules to tax years beginning after December 31, 2021 and before January 1, 2025 — in practice, the 2022, 2023, and 2024 tax years. Amended returns or Administrative Adjustment Requests had to be filed by the earlier of July 6, 2026 or the taxpayer's normal refund-claim deadline under IRC §6511. That date has passed.
You have a choice each year. Under Section 174A, domestic R&E costs are deductible in the year paid or incurred by default, but a business may instead elect to capitalize and amortize those costs over a minimum 60-month period — useful if a business wants to spread the deduction into future years rather than take it all at once.
No. Foreign R&E expenses are unaffected by Section 174A and must still be capitalized and amortized over 15 years, beginning at the midpoint of the tax year — a materially harsher rule than the domestic treatment.