Corporate Tax Avoidance
193 companies avoided $116,125,950,000 in federal income tax on $828.6 billion of profit in 2025
193 companies avoided $116,125,950,000 in federal income tax on $828.6 billion of profit in 2025
193 companies avoided
$116,125,950,000
in federal income tax on $828.6 billion
of profit in 2025
With earnings season now underway, dozens of huge corporations have disclosed paying single-digit federal income tax rates thanks to tax cuts included in President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Tesla collectively avoided $51 billion in federal income tax for 2025. Tesla and Palantir reported paying zero federal income tax at all.
President Trump’s 2017 tax law and the recently passed OBBBA have led to substantial tax avoidance from the nation’s largest corporations. Corporate profits continue to soar while corporate tax avoidance reaches extreme levels. That’s why reforming the corporate income tax and closing loopholes is so critical to a fair tax code.
Top Three Federal Tax Avoiders
Alphabet
Reported federal tax rate: 8.01%
Federal Tax breaks include
- Depreciation Deduction$3.3 billion
- FDII Deduction$3.9 billion
- R&D Credit$2.1 billion
- Stock Options$2.6 billion
Amazon.com
Reported federal tax rate: 1.37%
Federal Tax breaks include
- Depreciation Deduction$6.5 billion
- R&D Credit$2.4 billion
- Stock Options$2.6 billion
Meta
Reported federal tax rate: 3.57%
Federal Tax breaks include
- R&D Expensing$12.6 billion
- Depreciation Deduction$4.9 billion
- R&D Credit$3.9 billion
- Stock Options$4.3 billion
Recent Filings
MasterBrand
Reported federal tax rate: -3.34%
Federal Tax breaks include
- R&D Expensing$10.1 million
- Depreciation Deduction$2 million
- R&D Credit$1.5 million
Liberty Energy
Reported federal tax rate: -5.11%
Federal Tax breaks include
- Depreciation Deduction$57.8 million
- R&D Credit$3.6 million
OGE Energy
Reported federal tax rate: 5.21%
Federal Tax breaks include
- Depreciation Deduction$98.1 million
- Tax Credits$2.6 million
PG&E Corp.
Reported federal tax rate: -0.04%
Federal Tax breaks include
- Tax Credits$26 million
Spire
Reported federal tax rate: 0.52%
Federal Tax breaks include
- Depreciation Deduction$70.1 million
- Tax Credits$2.7 million
UGI
Reported federal tax rate: -2.73%
Federal Tax breaks include
- Depreciation Deduction$57 million
- Investment Tax Credits$88 million
Companies are included here only if review of their 10-K filing for the 2025 fiscal year indicates that they avoided paying some amount of federal income taxes. Companies are counted as avoiding federal income tax if they are based in the US, reported a domestic pretax profit, and their federal ETR is less than the statutory 21%. Total tax avoided is the sum of the difference between the amount each company paid in federal income tax and 21% of their pretax profits. Individual tax reduction items are listed only for companies with a federal ETR below 15%.
Publications on Corporate Tax Avoidance (View All)
New Income Tax Disclosure Rules Mean Halliburton Can No Longer Conceal Its Offshore Tax Avoidance
The company’s latest annual report throws the doors wide open once again on Halliburton’s penchant for offshoring its profits to tax havens, thanks to terrific new disclosure rules introduced by an obscure but vital agency, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB).
Cheniere Energy Gets $380 Million Gift from Trump’s Treasury Department
Cheniere Energy's latest annual financial report shows the company reaped a cool $380 million in tax cuts from a single regulatory change made by the Trump administration last fall.
Nvidia’s Tax Bill Shows It’s Not Just Zero-Tax Corporations That Hurt Our Budget Deficit the Most
Semiconductor giant Nvidia reported avoiding $6.8 billion in federal income taxes last year. The company did this in a year when it reported greater earnings growth than almost any corporation in history, with U.S. pretax income coming in at an astonishing $123 billion.
Yum! Brands’ Recipe for Tax Avoidance: Trump Tax Cuts with a Dash of Malta
the fast-food multinational that owns KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut reported this week that it made $1 billion of pretax profits in the U.S. last year—and didn’t pay a dime of federal income taxes on those profits.
Live Nation Entertainment Says Trump Tax Law Drove its 2025 Federal Income Tax Bill to Zero
The company paid zero federal income tax in 2025 despite reporting $145 million of U.S. profits.
Palantir Pays Zero Federal Income Tax Despite Explosive Growth, Largely Due to Trump Tax Law
Palantir reported $1.5 billion of U.S. income but paid exactly zero federal income tax in 2025. Despite explosive growth, tax breaks from the Trump tax law helped Palantir avoid paying even a dime of federal income tax on its earnings.
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