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NYT: Meta used AI data centers to claim billions in R&E tax credits

financeSep 30, 2026365,686

The New York Times reports that Meta classified its A.I. data centers as experimental "pilot models" to qualify for the federal research and experimentation tax credit, a move that cut its federal tax by about $3.9 billion in 2025. The Times says Meta’s accountants have warned the strategy is risky and that the I.R.S. could overturn the company’s claims. The reporting notes Meta described hundreds of millions in GPUs and other data-center spending as research, and one itemized claim in the coverage says Meta counted roughly $4.1 billion of stock options exercised by Mark Zuckerberg as a research expense. The paper traces the tactic to an expansive interpretation of a 1980s tax credit designed to subsidize experimental work. Meta told investors its A.I. efforts are successful while telling tax authorities the same infrastructure remains experimental and could fail, a contrast the Times highlights. The company’s use of the credit reduced its stated tax liabilities sharply in recent years, after reporting a $2.0 billion reduction in 2024 and a $3.9 billion reduction in 2025.

Hoodlum 🇺🇸
@nothoodlum.bsky.social

NEW: Meta found a way to turn massive data centers into “pilot models” and cash in on a 1980s tax credit. The result? Meta avoided nearly $4 billion in taxes last year alone. Gift link. 👇 www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/t...

21059d ago
T-Fish🇨🇦🍁33

Zuckerberg should be in prison, the fucker

Mary Carol22

We ARE sick of corporate tax loopholes. Imagine what could be done with $4 billions in taxes.

Falstaff P. Flagler20

This dipshit burned through 85 billions trying to make a trailer park Sim City he would have been better off paying his taxes for the goodwill.

Counting to Zero18

Close the tax loopholes for these fuckers.

M 💓🇺🇸🗽🌊🌈✨🧘‍♀️16

The greed. The greed. 🤬

Tom Thumb12

No wonder our country is a wreck.

Quoting this
keithhouser6.bsky.social2

This shit has got to stop!!

Carl Quintanilla
@carlquintanilla.bsky.social

Four-byline alert: “.. Meta claimed that $4.1 billion of stock options exercised by Mr. Zuckerberg counted as a research expense ..” @nytimes.com $META www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/t...

21659d ago
rogeralien.bsky.social122

The rich keep leveraging the tech they built to get richer at the expense of everyone else

TheTruthHurts68

"Of course it does, as I was researching exactly how much I could run thru such a tax scheme without getting caught" - Zuckerberg

Dave N.41

I’m sure JD’s fraud squad will be all over this. 🙄

Mr.Eddie897629

Meh... Zuck can just swing by the Oval and drop off a few trinkets, and all of these concerns will be swept away

Rich_in_NJ28

If only we had a functioning IRS…

Marc Sobel26

Hypothesis consistent with the facts: They are building AI data centers in order to avoid paying taxes. Shorter: The whole AI bubble is a tax evasion tactic. (Tax avoidance is legal, evasion is a crime. But not prosecuted by the Trump regime.)

Quoting this
Robert Reich3516

See what I mean when I say the system is rigged?

Jake Grumbach43

Andreessen & Horowitz's a16z funded firms are mostly just fraud shops--crypto scams, social media bots designed to scam humans, new types of gambling. Good to see Meta trying to compete in this area.

Boston Tom Levenson19

Triple penalties. And felony tax crime prosecutions for those in the approval chain.

ercolesfondrati.bsky.social16

It is called tax fraud, ffs.

Dragon "Gay'ed Too Close to the Sun" Fish10

Thinking about that quote that goes "Every four years some fresh buisness school graduates reinvent tax fraud from first principles"

Stef "inclusion is a human right" Christensen7

Hey, Babe, a new way to crime just dropped!

stevethdemocrat6

If only there were regulations and oversight.😒 Those were sold off to keep krasnov outta prison.

The Desert Veteran4

The next administration needs to automatically take a billion dollars from every fucking Ultra Rich Assholes & put it towards to the debt.

Matt Ortega3

We are not poor as a nation. The wealthy skip out on even owing money, let alone paying anything.

Bryan Wood2

If only we hadn't gutted the enforcement division of the IRS

emptywheel
@emptywheel.bsky.social

If you didn't already hate Meta, Mark Zuckerburg, and data centers, Meta is using the latter to cheat on their taxes. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/t...

47510d ago
FatRaccoon 🦝🎈4

Tax the stock exchange. Level playing field. Pay-to-play. Nowhere to hide. No accounting mirror games. Tax revenue, not profits. Billionaires are cheating parasites.

Brian McCabe2

Imagine having the biggest sweetheart deal of all time & STILL being unhappy that you have to pay a pittance in taxes…

suzythealpacagoth.bsky.social1

I cut them off officially earlier this month. I have no social media with them now. I got sick of the constant AI push and influencers taking over even my business account.

Quoting this
Totoro36

Let me draw you a line from Facebook, illegal enrichment and the collapse of journalism. The cost of data centers is my wheelhouse, and I also worked in ad tech, the industry that used to pay for online journalism. I know the week that online journalism started to collapse

Music Box Magazine9

AI data centers are a great way for rich fucks to not pay taxes.

James Mac, CEO of ANTIFA™️3

Mark Zuckerburg owes us all money 🖕

LiveSquawk
@livesquawknews.bsky.social

Meta Avoids Billions In Federal Taxes By Classifying Its Data Centres As Experimental - NYT www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/t...

19810d ago
deepmir.bsky.social1

Unfortunately all of the IRS auditors were DOGE'd...so absolutely NOTHING will happen. Different rules for trillion dollar companies and SNAP beneficiaries.

Quoting this
Sleepin Dogo5

So, is this why all these guys call there data centers "labs?" For tax reasons? Sleazy...

Kashmir Hill
@kashhill.bsky.social

Meta is using a radical interpretation of a tax credit for “research and experimentation” to get billions of dollars off GPUs for its A.I. data centers. My latest with Jesse Drucker, @elitan.bsky.social and @mikeisaac.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/t...

18910d ago
Kashmir Hill26

What this looks like in SEC filings. Companies love the research tax credit -- it's the second biggest corporate tax break in America -- but Meta really loves it.

Thoughtcrime1

I'm impressed by how much you interacted with readers in the article's comment section.

Stewart Tan1

The adage “follow the money” is timeless…

Quoting this
Paul Semenza9

And now we see how the AI circular-financing scheme is accelerated by evaded taxes

ETX Gov8

I think radical interpretations of tax law are typically called fraud.

Nicholas Sarwark8

The heist is taking place in plain sight.

Don Moynihan
@donmoyn.bsky.social

Uh, maybe it would be good if we did not have a tax dodger in charge of the IRS. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/t...

1159d ago
Dan Miller
@dan--miller.bsky.social

The AI economy is increasingly following a familiar model: Private companies build. Government subsidizes. Corporations capture the upside. Taxpayers absorb the cost. Meta reportedly reduced its 2025 federal tax bill by $3.9 billion by classifying AI data centers as experimental research.

709d ago
Quoting this
Keith Hyland4

But here in Ireland we are told Datacenters directly support 850 thousand jobs.... 🤔

Scout and T2

All too familiar tax scam paid for by wage earners.

Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com
@thefinancenewsletter.com

JUST IN: Meta is using AI data centers to claim research tax credits, according to the NYT. Its total research credits reached almost $4,000,000,000 in 2025 alone.

679d ago
Andrew Lokenauth | TheFinanceNewsletter.com64

It also counted Mark Zuckerberg’s $4.1 billion compensation as research spending to claim a $355 million tax break. Apparently when you’re worth $2 trillion, a data center is a science experiment and your CEO’s $4 billion payday is research.

Eloquentlee1

They really want to kill us

Quoting this
Lady Levain2

Corporations get more tax credits than people.

Leah McElrath
@leahmcelrath.bsky.social

“When Meta files its taxes, it… claims that its AI data centers are a giant experiment that could fail… It does this so it can tap into a tax credit intended for research and experimentation… [to enable Meta] to claim billions of dollars in tax credits for data center expansion.”

529d ago
Jesse Eisinger
@jeisinger.bsky.social

Americans hate data centers. And they are paying for them through Meta’s tax dodging. It’s a good bet that Trump broke the IRS so badly, they’ll get away with it. Excellent piece from @kashhill.bsky.social, @jessedrucker.bsky.social et al: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/t...

3910d ago
Kelly Lynne D’Angelo ✨
@kellylynnedang.bsky.social

I just don’t know what to say anymore. $4,000,000,000 avoidance of tax dollars due to a 1980’s “loophole.” We need an overhaul of absolutely everything. This country is a con.

339d ago
The Daily Edge
@thedailyedge.bsky.social

How Meta Uses A.I. Data Centers to Avoid Billions in Federal Taxes It's own accountants admit the techniques are so shady they might be called Trumpy www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/t...

149d ago
Roosevelt Institute
@rooseveltinstitute.org

Meta tells investors its AI is a tremendous success. It tells the IRS its data centers are an experiment that could fail. Why? Only experiments qualify for this tax break. Meta is exploiting it, labeling its proven chips "research" to get a $4B tax break.

209d ago
Quoting this
Joe Vukovich2

will eventually be a fun securities fraud suit

Ken Bazinet
@kenbazinet.bsky.social

When Meta files its taxes, it tells the IRS its AI data centers are a giant experiment that could fail, according to four people with knowledge of the company’s operations, The Times reported. META does this to tap into a tax credit intended for research and experimentation. #DataCenters #Greed

79d ago
Jesse Felder
@jessefelder.com

“Meta is claiming billions of dollars in tax benefits that its own accountants are telling investors are at risk of being overturned by the I.R.S.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/t...

179d ago
Quoting this
Angelo2

Meta execs: Fuck, and we would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for those meddling kids in the free press.

1 source
nytimes.comHow Meta Uses A.I. Data Centers to Avoid Billions in Federal Taxes

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