Meta's research tax credit reached $3.9 billion. It counted parts of AI data centres.
The New York Times reports that Meta classifies parts of its AI data-centre build-out, including server-rack layouts and network set-ups, as experimental "pilot models".
Meta uses that classification to claim a federal research tax credit created in the 1980s to reward innovation.
The credit cut Meta's taxes by $700 million in 2023, $2 billion in 2024 and $3.9 billion in 2025, according to securities filings reviewed by the Times. That makes Meta the credit's biggest user among public companies, the Times found.
Andre Shevchuck, a tax adviser at BPM, told the Times that treating data centres as experiments was "kind of wild and out there".
Meta's own filings warn that the tax authority could claw some of it back. They name this credit as the main uncertainty. The money Meta sets aside for tax disputes grew from $12.9 billion to $18.74 billion.
"Like other companies that invest at this scale, we use the tax incentives Congress established decades ago to encourage this type of domestic investment," Meta spokesman Andy Stone said.
Where would your finance team draw the line between research and running costs?
Image: AI-generated.
Sources
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