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A September 30, 2026 New York Times report alleges that Meta is using AI data-center assets in a federal research-tax-credit strategy, described in search-result excerpts as treating facilities or equipment as “pilot models.” Meta’s public filings confirm that research tax credits are among the sources of uncertainty in its tax positions, but they do not identify this specific strategy or show how much tax it has saved. The reported mechanism and any associated dollar figure should therefore be treated as allegations, not established amounts.
What the report alleges—and what remains unconfirmed
The September 30, 2026 New York Times report describes a federal research-credit strategy involving Meta’s AI data centers. Search-result excerpts characterize the facilities or equipment as “pilot models.” The available information does not establish the exact assets, credit claimed, tax years involved, or whether the reported amount is a claimed benefit, a realized saving, or a different figure. It also does not establish whether the IRS has challenged or accepted the position.
Meta’s 2025 Form 10-K independently says its uncertain tax positions primarily include research tax credits and transfer pricing with foreign subsidiaries. It does not break out an AI data-center research-credit position. That filing supports the broader point that Meta has uncertain tax positions involving research credits; it does not verify the specific account of how the data centers were treated.
How to read Meta’s tax figures
Several different figures can appear in a discussion of corporate taxes, but they describe different things. Meta’s 2025 filing reports these company-wide amounts:
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| Measure | Meta’s reported figure | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Income-tax provision | $25.474 billion for 2025 | The income-tax expense recognized in the company’s financial statements for that year; it is not the same as cash paid. |
| Cash income taxes paid | $7.58 billion for 2025 | Cash tax payments during the year; this is not a measure of the tax provision or of savings from a particular strategy. |
| Gross unrecognized tax benefits | $16.45 billion at December 31, 2025 | An aggregate of uncertain tax positions. Meta says these primarily involve research tax credits and transfer pricing; the total is not identified as the value of the AI data-center allegation. |
| Unrecognized benefits that would affect the tax provision if realized | $11.25 billion at December 31, 2025 | The portion of the gross unrecognized-tax-benefit balance that Meta said would affect its tax provision if realized; it is not an estimate of the data-center claim. |
| Federal and state tax-credit carryforwards | $7.85 billion federal and $6.80 billion state | Tax-credit carryforwards disclosed by Meta, not the alleged annual credit or a confirmed saving from AI infrastructure. |
All figures in the table are from Meta’s 2025 Form 10-K. The distinctions matter: none of these company-wide totals, on its own, reveals how much tax a specific data-center-related position reduced or might reduce.
Why depreciation is not proof of a research credit
Meta says its data-center and technical-infrastructure operating costs include depreciation on servers, network infrastructure, and buildings, as well as employee compensation, energy, and bandwidth. For 2025, it reported $18.00 billion in depreciation expense on property and equipment, including $13.36 billion on servers and network assets. The filing also says Meta extended the estimated useful lives of most servers and network assets to 5.5 years effective January 1, 2025.
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Those are financial-statement depreciation disclosures. They describe how the cost of property and equipment is recognized over estimated useful lives in the company’s accounts; they do not establish that those assets qualified for, or generated, a federal research tax credit. The specific “pilot model” characterization remains part of the reported allegation, not a treatment confirmed by the filing.
Meta’s spending forecasts provide context, not a tax calculation
In its April 2025 first-quarter release, Meta forecast 2025 capital expenditures, including principal payments on finance leases, of $64–72 billion. The company said the outlook reflected additional data-center investment to support AI and higher expected infrastructure-hardware costs. It also forecast a full-year 2025 tax rate of 12–15%, “absent any changes to our tax landscape.” These were forecasts issued in April 2025, not final actual results, and neither figure quantifies the alleged research-credit benefit. See Meta’s Q1 2025 results release.
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Data centers can face real-property, personal-property, sales, and income taxes, as well as other jurisdiction-specific taxes. Those state and local costs or incentives should not be conflated with the reported federal research-credit strategy.
A 2025 Tax Foundation model estimates the tax burden over the first 10 operating years of a modeled $1 billion data center across 12 jurisdictions. It assumes a specified model firm and exemptions routinely available to similarly sized data centers, so it is not a Meta estimate:
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| Tax category in the model | Share of modeled 10-year tax burden |
|---|---|
| Real-property tax | 36.5% |
| Federal and out-of-state corporate income tax | 24.0% |
| Tangible personal-property tax | 20.6% |
| Sales tax | 14.0% |
| Corporate income and gross-receipts taxes | 4.9% |
The model illustrates why “data-center taxes” is not one tax category: property and sales taxes are distinct from a federal research credit. It does not establish Meta’s actual tax burden or the validity of the reported federal position. The figures and assumptions are from the Tax Foundation’s 2025 paper.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What Meta’s tax disclosures do—and do not—say about scrutiny
Meta says its 2020 and subsequent tax years remain open to IRS examination. Its 2025 filing also describes an older transfer-pricing dispute, including a May 2025 Tax Court opinion concerning the value of intellectual property transferred to an international subsidiary. These disclosures show that tax positions and examinations are part of Meta’s broader tax picture, but the older litigation is not evidence that the IRS has challenged the reported AI data-center research-credit position.
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What would establish the specific tax claim
To determine what the reported strategy actually means, the relevant records would need to identify the asset classification, the type of credit, the tax years, and the amount claimed. They would also need to clarify whether an amount was claimed, recognized, or ultimately realized, and whether the IRS has accepted or disputed the position. Until those details are established, Meta’s aggregate uncertain-tax-benefit balance should not be presented as the value of an AI data-center tax claim.
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