In general, the tax code does not provide immediate deductions for purchase of assets that generate recurring income. Instead, the cost of the asset must be depreciated over time. The provision you point to excludes land, physical property, and software from treatment as R&D expenditures. Because all of those things generate recurring revenue over time. It’s specifically listed in that statute, but it’s not treated as a “special case.”
E.g. If a whiskey maker pays to build a distillation system, it can’t deduct that cost immediately. Because that’s a capital asset that generates recurring revenue. Software is properly treated the same way.
