R&D tax credit - how does this work? like, sometimes, providing, employees

waldziuchna

If a company typically spends let's say $10 million a year to pay a group of its own employees to conduct R&D, perhaps some third party engineers as well, and maybe for the office space and equipment for these guys, I assume that $10 million is tax deductible like any other business expense? Or is it actually typically NOT tax deductible unless there is a law providing for R&D tax credits? Because I sometimes hear about how America just perpetually renews its R&D tax credit but we should make it a permanent part of the law. And I just wonder, if the R&D tax credit law were to expire, does that mean that $10 million I mentioned before cannot be deducted against taxable income? That doesn't make any sense to me.

Thanks!